Tragedies averted; live fuse, shell recovered in 2 Kashmir village

Srinagar, May 28 (UNI) Panic gripped two villages of the south Kashmir district of Anantnag when residents recovered a live shell and a fuse, official sources said.

Police was immediately informed about explosives at village Nowgam and Pahloo after all those present there were taken to safer places.

Later, the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) defused the fuse and shells without causing any damage, the sources said.

The fuse and live shells had remained unexploded during a devastating fire in the ammunition depot at Khandroo in August last year, that left more than 20 people, mostly army fire-fighters dead and scores of others injured.

About six civilians were killed or wounded after they touched the unexploded shells in about a dozen villages.

The Army authorities pressed into service about 100 BDS, brought from different parts of the country, to defuse the unexploded shells in the affected villages before the residents were allowed to return to their homes after nearly a month.

During the past one week, about a dozen live fuses were detected and destroyed by the BDS in village Nowgam, Pahloo, Shaguns and Khandroo without causing any damage.

UNI BAS YSS SYU RN1613