Kids exposed to danger in city of crude bombs
Lima, three and a half years old, is asleep while her mother cries quietly at National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation. The kid lost all the fingers of her right hand and suffered injuries to her stomach and left hand as the bomb she picked taking it to be a ball went off yesterday morning. Photo: Anisur Rahman
Three and a half years old Lima Akhter picked up an object from the street, taking it for a ball. As she started playing with the object, it exploded blowing away all five fingers of her right hand.
Lima, the only child of car driver Mohammad Al Amin, also suffered minor injuries in her abdomen and left hand in the blast near her house at Uttar Ibrahimpur around 8:30am yesterday.
She was whisked off to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor).
Doctors at Nitor said Lima was out of danger, but all five fingers of her right hand were badly damaged and had to be amputated.
Abandoned crude bombs have become a major concern for parents over the last few months, as children have fallen victim while playing outside home in the capital and elsewhere.
In recent months, crude bombs have been widely used in anti-government agitation.
Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker said it is the responsibility of law enforcers to see whether any crude bombs are left abandoned in public places and dispose those.
Khandker said he would instruct the law enforcement agencies to beef up vigilance.
The IGP also said parents, guardians and teachers can help reduce such incidents by making children aware of the danger of picking abandoned objects. The media can also play a vital role in this regard.
Lima is the latest victim to join the tally of 13 children, who suffered severe injuries in explosions of abandoned crude bombs across the country in the last one and a half months.
One of the victims, Rahima, 9, lost an eye while another boy, Tofazzel, 11, lost three fingers of his right hand.
On March 24, two kids were killed in an explosion of an abandoned crude bomb they picked up mistaking it for a plaything.
Lima’s father Al Amin said, “My daughter was playing with her friend Sakib in the alley near my house. When she saw the crude bomb wrapped in tape, she picked it up taking it for a ball.”
The crude bomb went off, leaving her seriously injured. Sakib escaped unhurt as he was at a distance, he said.
Locals and police said a garbage van had been parked at the spot for long, and somebody might have hidden the crude bomb under the van. The girl saw it after the van left the spot.
Kazi Wazed Ali, officer-in-charge of Kafrul Police Station, said police recovered a live crude bomb from the spot. But they were yet to find out who left it there.
None was arrested in connection with the incident.
Source: The Daily Star
