Boy dies in mine explosion, 2 children injured, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 September 2009, 16:16 GMT]
A 12-year-old boy from Achchezhu in Jaffna died in an explosion Tuesday around 5:00 p.m when he tried to inspect a strange object found in a canal on the outer boundary of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit base in Achchezhu. Two siblings, a boy and girl who stood watching close to the boy who died were seriously injured when the object exploded, sources in Jaffna said. The injured are admitted to the Emergency Unit in Jaffna Teaching Hospital where the girl is in a critical condition, hospital sources said.

The boy who died was identified as Srivarathan Thiva, 12, a grade seven student of Achchezhu Saiva Prakaasa School.

Jeagatheeswaran Shalini, 8, the sister and her brother Jeagatheeswaran Akilan, 7, were seriously injured in the explosion.

The siblings are students of Achchezhu Methodist Mission Tamil Mixed School.

Being school holidays, the children had taken their cattle for grazing to the place where the explosion occurred.