HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) – Luckily, World War II era Howitzer shells don’t go off easily.

Contractors digging a sewer line in Hudson, 30 miles south of Albany, unwittingly unearthed what was believed to be a live 155 mm Howitzer shell Monday.

Will Cartwright, a worker with J & R Contracting, said the shell became lodged in the teeth of a backhoe being used to dig a four to five-foot deep trench.

Workers initially thought the ordnance was a piece of pipe and tried to dislodge the shell by bashing it against the ground.

“We didn’t know what it was until the dirt came off of it,” Cartwright said. Once most of the dirt was dislodged from the approximately 6-inch by 3-foot shell, the contractors realized what they had stumbled upon and contacted authorities.

The shell, which requires a two-mile radius for safe detonation, was taken to the Hudson Police Department firing range. There, a state police bomb disposal unit determined it was a live, vintage World War II artillery shell.

The bomb disposal squad loaded the shell into a containment trailer and took it away for detonation. However, the unit was unable to find an adequate place in which to explode the shell, Hudson police Lt. William Osuch said.

Osuch said the ordnance was then turned over to the U.S. Army, who were expected to transport it to Camp Smith in Westchester County for detonation.

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Information from: Register-Star