Pics: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, Feb 25: In an incident that might have caused injury or even cost a young life, a coast guard personnel allegedly misfired during a training session and the bullets hit the window panes of classrooms of a school.

The incident occured on Thursday February 25 at Moodushedde here. The students of Dakshina Kannada Government Composite High School had a lucky escape after a coast guard allegedly misfired in a gun fire exercise in an open yard a few meters away from the school.

It said that while classes were going on for students of 10th standard, one of the window panes of the classroom shattered with a loud noise. The same was repeated in the classroom of standard 9 after a couple of minutes.

Later, it was found out that the window panes broke due to misfiring from a personnel of the Panambur coast guard who were involved in a drill a few meters away from the school premises.

Speaking to daijiworld, Shashanth, a student of class 10th who experienced the incident first-hand, said, "The window pane broke with a loud noise and after a couple of minutes another loud noise was heard from another classroom. Classes were going on when the incident occurred."

Fathima, a student of class 9, said that she was sitting next to the window that was hit by the bullet. Luckily, neither the bullet nor the splinters hit her.

Speaking to daijiworld.com, headmaster of the school Suresh Rao said, "When classes were going on, the window panes of two classes broke after bullets hit them. The staff and the students informed me about it. The school authority then informed the officers who were in-charge of the training. The officer in-charge apologized and gave a written letter stating that it will never happen again.

In the letter, the officer stated that the bullet hit a tree and diverted towards the school which was 600 metres away from the firing range.

"We have already filed a police complaint and informed senior officers of the education department. The coast guard personnel should take proper precautions while holding such kind of arms training," he added.

Abdul Khader, a local, said, "Classes were going on and students who were sitting near the window had a lucky escape as nobody was hurt."

It is learnt that this ground is used by the police and coast guard personnel for arms training. A few locals also complained about misfiring during the training on other occasions.

When contacted, a person at the office of the coast guard, who declined to identify himself, denied that any such incident had occured.