Grief has gripped Karare trading centre in Saku constituency, Marsabit county after a man and his son were killed by an unexploded ordnance Wednesday afternoon.
The county Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) David Saruni reported that a man took home an object resembling a hand grenade, intending to show it to his son.
Saruni reported that unfortunately a man collected a treasure in a grazing field, which exploded when he showed it to his son.
The device which is currently under examination, exploded in the deceased’s hand, killing both on the spot in the semi-permanent family house.
Luckily no other member of the family was affected as the wife and their other three children were reportedly away at the time of the incident.
The DCC said the incident occurred at around 4 pm with preliminary investigations indicating that the man had intentions of finding out if the ‘strange’ object was valuable.
Residents said that a loud sound of a blast was heard in the direction of the deceased’s home and when people rushed there, they found the two lying on the ground lifeless.
Saruni cautioned members of the public against collecting strange devices or trying to dismantle them as they could turn out to be explosives and dangerous.
He also asked chiefs to enlighten locals that handling such objects was risky, but instead always report such findings to the relevant authorities.
A team of bomb experts from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) was called in to help in handling the matter.
The incident comes barely months after a cache of unexploded explosives that turned out to be bombs was discovered buried in the ground by speculative artisanal miners in the gold-rich Dabel area in Moyale sub-County.
By Sebastian Miriti
