ACCIDENT AT PLAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22985, 12 March 1938, Page 14

ACCIDENT AT PLAY

DETONATOR EXPLODES BOY SERIOUSLY INJURED FINGER TIPS BLOWN OFF Through the explosion of a detonator with which ho was playing yesterday morning, Bobert Turner, aged 7 years, the elder child of Mr. and Mrs. G. Turner, of No. 1 Boad, Swanson, had the tips of the thumb and first three fingers of his left hand blown off. It is believed that the boy applied a match to the detonator. Unusual circumstances surrounded the accident which, occurred at the boy's homo at about 7 o'clock. After a walk along No. 1 Boad the previous evening in company with his sister Elizabeth, aged 5 years, the hoy returned with a number of articles which he said ho had found on the roadside. Mr. Turner examined one and discovered that it was a spent .22 cartridge shell. The others were similar in shape and size and Mr. Turner concluded thnt they would bo harmless playthings. Actually ho had examined the only empty cartridge shell among about eight live detonators. When they were milking, yesterday morning, Mr. and Mrs. Turner heard an explosion followed by cries from the direction of their house. On investigating they found the two children near the back door, the hoy with his left hand badly injured and the girl with slight scratches on her legs. A .number of detonators were on the ground and the remains of a matchbox, which had been loft inside the house, were strewn about. The boy was subsequently conveyed to the Auckland Hospital.