IRKUTSK, June 26 (Itar-Tass) — A nine-year-old boy injured in a grenade explosion in the town Khudoelan, Irkutsk region, came out of coma on Tuesday. The boy had spent six days on artificial lung ventilation, the regional government told Itar-Tass.
“In all, the boy has had four surgeries. He started breathing on his own at 11:30 p.m. on June 25. The boy is out of coma,” the government said.
The boy’s five-year-old brother, who was also hurt in the explosion, was transferred from the intensive care unit to the neurosurgical department. Doctors said his condition was improving steadily to medium serious.
The third explosion victim, a 14-year-old teenager with numerous fragment wounds, remains in the intensive care unit.
The children were playing with an anti-tank grenade in the backyard on June 19. A local resident, 34, found several grenades by a military training range and left them in his summer kitchen unattended. The explosion killed a five-year-old girl. Her three brothers were hospitalized.
The boys were taken to the Nizhneudinsk hospital for first aid. They were transported to Irkutsk by helicopter on the next day. Now the children are patients of the Irkutsk regional children’s hospital. Doctors say they will be well, but the hospital treatment will last for no less than a month.