4 kids in grenade blast

BADOC, Ilocos Norte – Four school children were critically wounded when a rifle grenade they were toying with exploded noon on July 2 here in Barangay Madupayas, police said.

Investigators said two of the victims, Brend Torrecer, 10, and Arnel Semana, 10, were treated at the Corpuz Clinic in Sinait, Ilocos Sur.

Their left feet were amputated below the knee. Their companions, Haris Semana, 11, and Joel Fagaran, 10, were confined in the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital in Batac City .

Both suffered stomach injuries. Probers said the victims, all grade 5 pupils of the Madupayas Elementary School in Badoc, were on noontime break when they found the rifle grenade near the riverbank and played with it.