Thousands turn out for Namur sex-toy hunt

Some 8,500 people took part in an Easter hunt with a difference at the weekend - searching for sex-toys in a giant field.

The organisers of the seventh edition of the sex-toy hunt in Wépion, on the outskirts of Namur, were somewhat overwhelmed by the large turnout, coupled with the hot weather, and they quickly ran out of water.

The principle is simple: boxes with tickets in them are buried in a large field. Armed with a shovel, the participants have the task to find and dig up the boxes and then retrieve the lot corresponding to the ticket and leave with the sex toys.

"By 15.00 we had already experienced a number of people falling ill because of the heat. We had to go to the store to buy bottles of water urgently," said a spokeswoman for Soft Love, the event's organiser.

"We did not think there would be so many people, we are very happy." A fire truck was even mobilised to spray the hunters with water.