MACHILIPATNAM: A five-year-old boy was killed and a six-year-old was grievously injured in an explosion in a garbage dump at Pedana, in Krishna district Saturday.
A group of kids playing near the garbage heap lit it playfully, triggering the blast.The deceased has been identified as Md Rafi, a second class student of an Urdu school at Pedana. The injured, Md Idris, is his classmate.
Police suspect that fire crackers dumped in the garbage heap, which is in the open ground at the Fish Market opposite the bus station, might have exploded. SP G Vijaya Kumar said Md Rafi, who sustained serious injuries on hands and chest in the explosion, died while being shifted to hospital. The injured Idris is being treated at the district headquarters hospital in Machilipatnam. Rafi was the only son of Anees, a cycle mechanic.
A bomb squad and a dog squad rushed to the site and carried out a detailed inspection. Some samples were collected from the blast site and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
Excise minister K Ravindra visited the spot and consoled the parents of the boys.
The police suspect that materials used for making fire crackers might have been dumped in the trash heap, possibly by some families residing in the areas surrounding the blast who are into the business of fire works manufacture.
The fire crackers or material must have lighted when the unsuspecting kids lit up the trash.