Child Killed, Seven Injured in Blast in Jalpaiguri as Father Tries to Pry Open Rumored Defensive Shell
Sikkim Govt Had Warned Against Touching Munitions or Explosives Washed Away by Teesta
On Thursday evening in the Jalpaiguri district, a child was killed and seven other people were hurt as his father attempted to pry through a rumored defensive shell.
According to sources, the shell was adrift in the Teesta. On the left bank of the river, at Panditpara in Champadanga of the Kranti block, Taibur Rehman found it and brought it home.
There, the shell detonated as Rehman attempted to open it in front of several bystanders, including his 3-year-old son Sainur Alam. Sainur died in the explosion. Rehman and six other people need hospitalization after sustaining major injuries.
A few hours prior to the tragedy, the Sikkim administration in the Himalayan state had issued a warning warning people not to take any munitions or explosives from the river. It is believed that numerous of these objects have been washed away by the Teesta because the river has damaged defense sites in the state.
Several other Panditpara locals reportedly gathered shells and boxes from the Teesta that were later discarded in abandoned regions after word of the explosion spread.
After the event, Mahua Gope, the Trinamul district chief for Jalpaiguri, hurried to the hospital to visit the injured.
Gope warned against collecting objects that the Teesta brought downstream and pleaded with people not to do so.
According to Jalpaiguri district police representatives, public notifications to this effect are being made along the banks.
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