Boy critical after grenade he was playing with explodes in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A 12-year-old boy is now fighting for his life at a hospital here after suffering from serious injuries, when the M203 grenade shell he was toying with went off in Tipo-tipo, Basilan on Thursday evening, the police said Friday.

Senior Superintendent Rufino Inot, Basilan police director, said Merham Berhamin found the unexploded ordnance while walking on a beach in Barangay Banah around 7 p.m.

“He toyed with the M203 grenade launcher live ammunition (40mm) by repeatedly tossing it. It eventually hit a stone and exploded,” Inot said.

He said the boy was immediately rushed to the Basilan General Hospital but had to be transferred here.

Save the Children of Basilan from Armed Conflict, a non-government organization, said children had been the common victims of landmines and abandoned ammunition.

“We don’t know who own the explosives but we already have several cases in the past,” Dr. Arlyn Jawad Jumaoas of the said NGO, earlier said. Julie Alipala INQ