BHOPAL: A teenager was killed and two others were injured when a discarded shell reportedly exploded in the restricted area near the Army Firing Range in Jaitpur village of Datia district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday.
While the local police have initiated investigations into the incident, the two injured persons have been admitted to the government medical college in the adjoining Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh.
According to local police sources in Datia district, the incident happened when the three persons were searching junk/scrap from the restricted area near the Hirapur Army Firing Range in Jaitpur village under Basai police station area.
The trio came across an unexploded and discarded shell while looking for the metal scrap. As they were attempting to open it, the shell went off, killing 17-year-old Ganga Ram on the spot and critically injuring the two others identified as 23-year-old Ramu and 16-year-old Manoj.
Local residents soon informed about the incident to the police, who rushed the two injured persons to the Medical College in the adjoining Jhansi district.
According to Datia police sources, the firing range is exclusively used by the army personnel for training purposes and unexploded shells sometimes remain behind as discarded shells.
The three individuals and teenagers managed to enter the same restricted area in search of metal scrap and started tampering with the shells, owing to which one of the discarded shells exploded, leading to the tragedy.