Four young boys were injured after innocently picking an unexploded ordnance in Ngala town in Borno State, near Lake Chad, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement, Wednesday.
The boys, simply identified as Uwa, Umar, Hussaini, and Abdullahi, were playing outside their home when they discovered a strange object, according to HumAngle.
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“Unaware of what it was, the children were curious,” the ICRC said in its statement. “The strange object turned out to be UXO and sadly detonated in their hands.”
The statement added that the victims, who sustained severe injuries from the explosion, were evacuated in a helicopter and are currently receiving treatment at a specialist hospital in Maiduguri, Borno State.
“The children received life-saving surgical care at the hospital, and they are in the recovery stage now,” the humanitarian oraganisation said.
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Improvised explosives are exposing the war-torn region to serious threats, resulting in casualties.
In 2021, at least three children were killed and two injured after accidentally detonating an unexploded bomb under a bridge in Ngala.
An unexploded bomb in July also killed several scrap metal collectors and injured others in Bama area of the state.
According to HumAngle, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in 2020 reported 1,052 casualties from 697 accidents involving landmines and unexploded bombs between January 2016 and August 2020, including 408 deaths and 644 injuries.
