Rajasthan boy killed in explosion, was tinkering with bomb found in Pokhran firing range

According to army officials, the hand grenade found by the boys possibly got dropped during an exercise of destroying expired artillery shells undertaken some time ago at the Pokhran field firing range.

An 11-year-old boy was killed in Jaisalmer while tampering with a blind tank bomb, which he had stolen from Pokhran field firing range. The incident took place in Lathi area of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer on Sunday.

While a 12-year-old shepherd, who accompanied the younger, suffered severe injuries and was referred to Jodhpur.

In the line of fire

As per reports, shepherds Shravan Singh and Mahipal Singh (12) had gone to graze their cattle near firing range when they found a bomb-like item.

Shravan Singh picked up the unused shell from Pokharan field firing range. The two boys took the shell to a temple, a km away from Bhadariya village in Jaisalmer.

When they tried to take out scrap from the shell, it exploded, killing 11-year-old Shravan on the spot while Mahipal Singh was critically injured.

The explosion alerted other shepherds who rushed to the spot and then informed other villagers. Police and army officials also reached the spot and began investigating the matter.

As per information, some time ago, the exercise of destroying expired artillery shells was undertaken at the Pokhran field firing range. However, some shells didn't explode. It is possible that some units remained unexploded which the two boys could have found.