Two girls were seriously injured when a grenade they were innocently playing with exploded in their hands, authorities said Tuesday.Bertilde Mukantwari, 17, and Rose Ayinkamiye, 15, of Rango Village, Kazo Sector in Ngoma District, were admitted to Kibungo Hospital.The hospital authorities said the two sisters suffered severe bodily injuries, but were responding well to treatment.Eyewitnesses said the girls had found a strange object on the ground near a banana plantation.“Mukantwari had the grenade in her hands while her sister looked on. Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion. We came to their rescue and found them bleeding profusely,” said Janvier Gasana, a neighbour.“They were so lucky, the grenade would have killed them. They thought it was a metal they could sell as scarp to get money. Businesspersons tell people to collect rusted metals, but forget such risks,” Gasana added.According to Josue Buhiga, the sector executive secretary, authorities were informed after the incident.“This seemed to be a grenade that had been abandoned in a bush and the children found it and thought it was a usual metal. When they started to play with it, the grenade went off and injured them,” he said.Buhiga warned that the incident was an indicator that there could be many abandoned explosives in the area.
