Boy dies after device explodes in Ohangwena Region

ONGWEDIVA, 29 MAY  – The police in the Ohangwena Region have appealed to people to refrain from tampering with unknown objects after a boy died in an explosion caused by a device he picked up in a field.

Warrant Officer Kaume Iitumba of the Namibian Police Force made the appeal in a telephonic interview with Nampa on Monday. He said the 11-year-old Shitani Petrus and three of his friends found the device in a field while harvesting beans at Epinga village in the Omundaungilo area on Friday.

“They picked up a 40 millimetre round explosive device of South Africa origin and took it into their house, where the deceased started hitting it with another object, causing it to explode,” he said.
Iitumba said the explosion ripped off one of the deceased boy’s arms.

He died on the spot, while the three other children aged between five and seven sustained slight to severe injuries and were admitted to the Eenhana District Hospital.

“There are still some explosive devices from the liberation struggle to be found in the region. If you find a strange object, don’t touch it, report it to the police as we have repeatedly told the public,” he said, adding that the surviving children have been traumatised and now also require counselling.

Iitumba further disclosed that the Ohangwena police in a separate case detonated two landmines at Oshikwiyushomaumbo village in the Engela Constituency on Sunday.

He said children who were looking after livestock at the village discovered the landmines in an oshana on Saturday.
NAMPA