Last night on my way home, the number three
glow plug self-destructed on my 240D.

This made quite a racket and it sounded like
the pencil part of the plug went through the cylinder and hopefully out through the exhaust. All I had left was a sooty glow plug body that a kindly late night mechanic plugged with a bolt to get me home. The engine sounds like it did before the launch, so I have two questions: Has this happened to anyone else, and is there something I need to do to check for damage?
1977 240D, 212,000 miles