a bomb

(Xinhua/NAN) Five schoolchildren died and 45 others injured after being hit by an explosive in Northwestern Tanzania’s region of Kagera, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

Ngara District Commissioner, Michael Mntenjele confirmed the incident.

He said that one of the pupils of Kihinga primary school, which is located along the border with Burundi, might have naively picked the explosive on his way to school in the morning and the children began playing with it outside their classroom before it exploded.

Mariagoreti Fredrick, Chief Medical Officer at Rulenge Mission Hospital where the victims were rushed to, said two of the deceased succumbed to injuries while receiving treatment at the facility while three bodies were brought already lifeless along with the injured.

“We are doing our best to save the lives of patients who have suffered injuries in various parts of the body,’’ she said.

She added that 13 of the injured were in critical condition and were being attended to at the facility’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Mariagoreti said she could not gather clear information on what exactly happened to the children due to their young age but according to what teachers told her, the incident happened in the morning when the pupils were doing their reading test.

“Teachers told me pupils were outside and they were being called one-by-one to enter the classroom and take the reading test when something exploded outside where they were,’’ she said.

As for the possible cause of the accident, she said: “The nature of injuries indicated it was explosive, but we are waiting for conclusive results from experts.’’

Ngara District Chairman, Erick Nkilamachumu said it is believed one of the deceased children picked the explosive on the roadside while going to school and his friends toyed with it as they waited for their turn to do the exam before it burst. (Xinhua/NAN)