The key facts

  • A 14-year-old schoolboy in the village of Lakhta, Arkhangelsk Oblast, picked up a grenade fuse among scrap metal and was injured when it exploded as he showed the find to his 62-year-old grandmother
  • The teenager suffered a hand injury and, according to Life.ru, underwent surgery; his life is not in danger
  • A criminal case has been opened under Part 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; the origin of the fuse is being established

Explosion in the hallway of a grandmother's house

In Arkhangelsk Oblast, a 14-year-old schoolboy suffered a hand injury after the fuse of a hand grenade he had found among scrap metal exploded. This was reported by the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while details of the incident were reported by the Telegram channel Baza. The incident occurred in the afternoon of November 5 in the village of Lakhta.

How it happened

According to the police, two teenagers were walking around and climbed onto a fenced plot through an opening. There, among old machinery and scrap metal, one of the schoolboys picked up a metal object resembling a grenade fuse. They brought the find to the house of the 62-year-old grandmother of one of them. In the hallway, the grandson began showing her the 'trophy' and pulled the ring — the object exploded in his hands. Baza specifies that the teenager suffered a laceration to his hand and was taken to hospital, where doctors performed surgery. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the victim's life is not in danger; the grandmother immediately gave him first aid and called an ambulance. The other people in the house, according to preliminary information, were not injured.

Investigation and criminal case

Neighbours who heard the explosion called the police. Law enforcement officers examined the fragments from the scene and established that it was the fuse of a hand grenade, after which they inspected the plot where the teenagers had found the dangerous object. A criminal case has been opened under Part 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — on the illegal trafficking of explosive devices. Investigators are establishing where the fuse came from and who might have left it there. Some outlets recall similar incidents: Life.ru reported an incident in Kaliningrad Oblast, where on September 10 a grenade from the Great Patriotic War era exploded while potatoes were being harvested — according to the preliminary version, the bucket of a tractor caught the munition, and two men aged 22 and 43 were injured.