Ananova:

A teenager who found a cloud-seeding missile was almost killed when he tried to cut it up for scrap metal with an axe.

Milan Petrov, 16, from Vinica, Macedonia, found the missile in a forest near his house and brought it home to cut up for scrap metal.

But he was badly injured when it blew up after he hit it several times with a heavy axe.

Doctors said he was lucky to be alive, adding: "It's a miracle that he wasn't blown to bits along with the rocket."

He is now in a stable condition and recovering in hospital.

Weather modification rockets are used to directly influence hail-producing or rain-bearing clouds by dispersing ice-forming chemical agents.