Grenade injures four family members

Jul 29, 2009

A 38-year-old widow and her three children sustained severe injuries in a stick grenade explosion at Opeta village in Gonyo sub-county in Pallisa district on Sunday.<br>

By Daniel Edyegu

A 38-year-old widow and her three children sustained severe injuries in a stick grenade explosion at Opeta village in Gonyo sub-county in Pallisa district on Sunday.

Robinah Alupot, Max Omulle, 16, Angella Akello, 14, John Semei, 5, were admitted to Pallisa Hospital.

“I picked the explosive amid bricks that I was ferrying to build the grave of our grandfather within the compound. I did not recognise it neither could my mum. While were playing, the grenade fell and started emitting smoke before it exploded,” Omule narrated at his hospital bed on Monday.

Alupot said the children, all pupils of Opeta Primary School, mistook the explosive for an ordinary metal.

She said her three other children, George Olupot, 8, David Odeket, 6, and Elena Otekit survived the explosion because they were playing in the backyard.

“My children usually collect these metals and sell them to middle men for sh200 per kilogramme. So when I could not identify the grenade, they went ahead to play with it. We ran away as soon as it started emitting smoke otherwise it would have killed somebody,” Alupot, with a swollen face, narrated.

But a relative attending to the patients said the medical officers had neglected rendering treatment to the victims.

“I have tried to seek help from doctors in vain. These people need urgent X-ray to identify and remove the grenade fragments that are embedded under the skin.”

However, Abdul Karim Pande, the hospital medical officer, explained that the patients were still undergoing recovery treatment before they could have an x-ray.

“When these patients were brought here, they were suffering from trauma and bled profusely. So we decided to put them on intravenous fluids and antibiotics to allow them recover. We have an X-ray unit and they shall be scanned before surgery,” Pande said.

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