12-year-old boy killed in abandoned mortar shell blast near Bandarban border

A 12-year-old boy was killed in a mortar shell explosion left abandoned near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban's Naikhongchhari upazila this afternoon.

The victim, Satnaing Tanchangya, was the son of Kinghla Tanchangya of Baishphari Tanchangya Para in Ghumdhum union, said police.

His native home is in Medai village under Dekibunia in Myanmar's Rakhine state, said Mohammad Mozzamel Haque, officer-in-charge of Naikhongchhari Police Station.

Police and local representatives said Satnaing and his family came to Bandarban from Myanmar's Rakhine two years ago following the war between the Arakan Army and Myanmar's military junta.

According to police, the explosion took place in the Moringajhiri area, around 100 yards northeast of Border Pillar 39 in Ward No 3 of Ghumdhum union.

Citing locals, the OC said the boy had gone to a jhum field with his parents in the morning. While his parents were constructing a temporary shelter, he wandered around the area and played by himself.

At one point, he found a mortar shell and started playing with it, mistaking it for a toy. The device exploded, killing him on the spot. His parents were present in the field at the time.

The OC said locals later recovered the body and brought it to the Baishphari area. The exact circumstances of the incident will be determined after an investigation.

Lt Col SM Khairul Alam, commanding officer of BGB-34 Naikhongchhari Battalion, said a child died in an explosion at a jhum field near the zero line adjacent to Border Pillar 41 in the Baishphari border area of Ghumdhum.

He said the matter is being treated with utmost importance and necessary measures have been taken.

Babul Chakma, a member of Ghumdhum Union Parishad, expressed concern that unexploded device from past clashes between the Arakan Army and Myanmar's military junta may still be scattered across several border areas.

He urged the authorities to take effective measures to identify and remove such hazardous explosives to prevent further casualties.