A police officer in India has been hailed a hero after he picked up a 22lb bomb found in a school playground and sprinted down the road to protect the 400 children in the area from being injured.
Abhishek Patel, 40, grabbed the bomb with his bare hands on Friday and ran away with it to minimise damage to the school in of Chitora, Sagar District, Madhya Pradesh State, Central India.
The head constable ran 0.6 miles (one kilometre) with the unexploded artillery shell – big enough to cause damage in a 1,500-ft radius – to dump it in a drain far away from the school.
Abhishek Patel, 40, grabbed the bomb with his bare hands and ran away with it to minimise damage to the school in of Chitora, Sagar District, Madhya Pradesh State, Central India
The cop took the bomb in his own hands after there was no bomb squad available to attend to the incident, local media reported.
He picked up the 12-inch (30-centimetre) bomb, weighing around 22lb (ten kilograms) and carried it on his shoulder.
The cop was trying to protect the 400 schoolchildren from being hurt in the incident.
The bomb was later defused by army personnel of Mahar Regiment Centre at Sagar on Sunday, according to the Hindu Times.
He was praised by his bosses and rewarded with 50,000 INR (£606) for his act of bravery.
He picked up the 12-inch (30-centimetre) bomb, weighing around 22lb (ten kilograms) and carried it on his shoulder
The head constable ran 0.6 miles (one kilometre) with the explosive device – big enough to cause damage in a 1,500-ft radius – to dump it in a drain far away from the school
Mr Patel told local media: ‘Since it was a residential area and a school compound, my only aim was to carry the bomb as far away as possible from there.
‘We have learnt during our training that had it exploded, it would have damaged 500 metres (0.5 miles) of the surrounding area.’
‘It was a risky job and could have taken my life as well,’ he added. ‘I did it to save the lives of hundreds of children who were present in the school. They are our future.’
It is not known where the bomb came from. It is also not known whether it was planted near to the school or whether it came to be there by accident.
Police are investigating the theory that it had come from an army barracks nearby.