Rafina: Second World War grenade in a street

A heavily corroded hand grenade was found in Rafina, at the junction of Iroon Polytechniou and Ari Velouchioti streets, and mobilised the authorities from early on. Police and Fire Service forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area to pedestrians and vehicles until the handling of the find was completed. A specialist Army bomb disposal team took charge of removing it, as the service responsible for neutralising old ordnance. The operation was under way from the morning hours of Friday 21 August 2026 and, according to a later update from iRafina, was completed shortly after 09:10. No injuries or damage were reported, and the cordon was lifted once the item had been removed.

According to the authorities’ first assessments, the ordnance dates from the period of the Second World War, although its exact origin and type will be established by experts after examination. The available reports do not agree on two particular points, which remain open. As to the location of the find, rafinatanews and Marathon Press report that the grenade was on a pavement, while iRafina refers to a plot of land at the junction of the two streets. As to the time it was found, iRafina places the incident on the evening of Thursday 20 August 2026, while Marathon Press places it on the morning of Friday 21 August 2026. Neither version has been confirmed by an official announcement.

For Rafina and Pikermi, the incident translated into the temporary closure of a point in the residential fabric during a period of heavy traffic, since August concentrates passenger and tourist movement to and from the port. The procedure followed is the one prescribed for any find of a suspicious object: notification of the police, cordoning of the perimeter and a call to bomb disposal officers, with no moving or handling by members of the public. Finds of ordnance from the 1940s are not unheard of in parts of Eastern Attica, where excavation and building work is carried out, but every such case is treated as an active danger until experts judge otherwise.

So far no official announcement has been issued by the police, the Fire Service or the municipality about the incident, and what is known comes from local news outlets. The authorities have not announced how the object ended up at that particular spot, nor whether it is connected with works in the area or was brought there from elsewhere. It has not been made known whether other objects were found during the search of the site. The next step is the examination of the ordnance by the competent officers, so that its dating, its type and the manner of its destruction under controlled conditions can be determined. No timetable for that process has been made known. In similar incidents the authorities consistently advise that no suspicious object should be touched or moved and that the police should be notified immediately.