The Hindu : Front Page : Rocket-like projectile creates panic

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Thursday, Jan 19, 2006

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Rocket-like projectile creates panic

Staff Reporter

Limb of differently-abled girl severed

FREAK ACCIDENT: Indian Navy personnel examining the projectile that created panic in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. — Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM: The left limb of K. Pragya (16), a differently-abled girl, was severed on Wednesday afternoon when a stray rocket-like projectile hit her in MVP Colony.

According to Commissioner of Police V.S.K. Kaumudi, the projectile was caught in the net of a fisherman on Wednesday morning who, along with seven other fellow fishermen, sold the piece for Rs.500 to a petty scrap merchant.

Scrap shop owner Rambabu later engaged welders Mutyala Rao and Syamala Rao to cut open the four-foot long projectile. Unable to saw it open, the duo used a gas cutter, and precisely at that moment, the rocket got ignited and shot off.

Helter-skelter

After crashing through two concrete electric poles, it severed the limb of Pragya and finally dropped down after hitting the boundary wall of an apartment complex. The residents ran helter-skelter in panic. A resident was heard saying, "We thought we were under attack from the sea".

According to Mutyala Rao, the impact was so forceful that both of them were violently pushed behind by a couple of feet. They also sustained minor burns.

The police reached the spot within a few minutes and brought the projectile to the Three Town Police Station. Experts from the Navy were later called to examine it.

The Naval personnel would not divulge whether it was rocket or part of a missile and whether it belonged to the Navy or some other agency. They did not even disclose whether it had been defused or whether it still carried some explosive material.

``Both Mutyala Rao and Syamala Rao have been taken into custody but shop owner Rambabu is absconding. We have conducted a search both at his shop and residence but no other such material was found,'' said Mr. Kaumudi.

On Pragya, he said that she was rushed to the King George Hospital within a few minutes after the incident, and is receiving treatment.

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