BERHAMPUR: Two students of Magura UP school under Aska police limits were critically injured while trying to detonate an explosive by using the battery of a mobile phone on the school premises on Saturday.
The boys had reportedly collected the explosive from a stone quarry close to the school.
The children, Raja Nayak of Class 8 and Chandan Swain of Class 7, are undergoing treatment at MKCG Medical College and Hospital.
While a part of Raja’s left palm was severed in the explosion, Chandan sustained deep wounds on his face.
Tension ran high in the school as the explosion took place on its premises.
It occurred in eastern side of the playground when students were having their mid-day meal. Teachers rushed to the spot to find both Raja and Chandan lying in a pool of blood.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the boys had collected an explosive that was used for blasting stones in the quarry.
During lunch break in the school, they went to the playground and out of curiosity fixed a wire to the explosive and connected it with a mobile battery leading to its detonation.
Police seized wires from the spot and some more wires and a mobile battery from the houses of Chandan and Raja. They are investigating the source from where the boys procured the explosives.
School headmistress Babita Acharya has lodged a complaint with Aska police.
Tehsildar SC Sethia, BDO GD Nayak, Deputy DEO SC Pradhan, SDPO SM Pradhan, Aska IIC PB Dharua also visited the school for investigation.
Locals, meanwhile, have raised questions on security of students as the school is located just 500 meters away from the stone quarry.
They alleged that explosives are frequently used in quarries near Magura school and another area Venketraipalli to blast stone by the lease holder leading to sound and air pollution. Often, splinters from the stones hits passersby during explosions.
Several truckloads of stone boulders and chips are transported to other areas from these two quarries. A group of people also procure explosives from the quarry to throw in ponds to kill fish.
Locals have time and again urged the Revenue Department officials to stop blasting in the quarries in the larger interest of residents and children but to no avail.
After the incident, the SDPO seized a pump and some other materials used for blasting from the quarry. Revenue officials are verifying records of stone quarries in the area.