Accidental blast hurts 3 students

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Jan 03, 2015, DHNS:  An accidental blast at a school here on Friday injured three class IV students when they plugged in a detonator found in a pile of garbage near the school premises.

The incident took place at Sai Baba Higher Primary School in Rupena Agrahara under Madiwala police limits. The injured are Surya, Kiran and Shivanath.

The police said around 1 pm, during the lunch break, the trio along with another student were playing near the school premises. One of them found three detonators near a pile of garbage and showed it to Surya, Kiran and Shivanath, who took it back to their classroom.

Surya plugged in one of the detonators and switched it on which resulted in a low-intensity explosion. All three were injured in the blast.  The impact was so loud that the staff and children assumed that it was a bomb blast and ran out of the premises. Teachers found the three students injured and the wall below the switch board was cracked, the police said.
The staff informed the police and the injured were shifted to St John’s hospital.

The police rushed to the spot along with the bomb disposal squad, who checked the school premises and surrounding areas. But no explosive material was found.

A senior police officer said: “It was an accident and the children were not aware that they were detonators and mistook them for some fancy light. They plugged it  to a switch board in the classroom, which resulted in a low-intensity explosion”, he said.

“Fortunately they escaped with minor injuries and no major casualties was reported,” the officer said.

“There is a heap of garbage near the school and the kids who were playing near it found the detonators. It is suspected that the detonators might have been used to blast rocks in a stone quarry which is located near the school. These detonators might have been dumped by the quarry workers.

“The police visited the quarry and are trying to find the owner. For now, the workers have been picked up for questioning,” he added. Another officer said there is also a possibility that the detonators might have been used for blasting rocks which were found while laying underground pipes to connect the Madiwala and Agara lake.

The principal has lodged a complaint and investigation is on. The school conducts classes from standard I to VII and has 300 students. Y Gopala Reddy, management secretary of the school, said he was in Anekal at the time of the incident and that he was informed about it at around 2 pm by a staff member.

“The children have suffered minor injuries near the chest but are in a stable condition. They were first taken to ESI hospital near the school, from where they were referred to St John’s Hospital,” he said.