In stable condition: Khairul Shahiran being warded at the Sultanah Nur Zaharah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu.
KUALA TERENGGANU: A 19-year-old college student whose hands were severely injured in a blast when an experiment to build a home-made rocket went awry on Saturday will undergo a reconstructive surgery soon.
Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital director Dr Abdul Rahim Abdullah said with the surgery, it was hoped that the student, Khairul Shahiran Che Ibrahim, would be able to regain the use of his mangled hands. “We will try our best to help him,” he said yesterday.
Khairul Shahiran, an electrical engineering student at a local college here, together with two friends Mohd Afiq Mohd Misran, 18, and Nazrin Che Mohamad, 20, from the same college were building the home-made rocket when the explosives used exploded.
His friends suffered burns on their eyes and bodies.
Dr Abdul Rahim said their injuries would not affect their eyesight.
It was Nazrin’s plan to build the rocket.
“The experiment turned awry when it exploded while one of them was holding the can,” said Kuala Terengganu police chief Asst Comm Idris Abd Rafar.
ACP Idris said Nazrin had conducted a similar experiment previously. “That time, he succeeded.”
This time around, he was trying to improve on his earlier experiment by making a more advanced rocket, said ACP Idris.
The case is being investigated under Section 8 of the Explosives Act 1957.
Initial investigations revealed that the trio were not part of any radical gang and were not building explosives with intentions to commit acts of terror.
“They are not part of any radical gang and have no prior criminal records,” said ACP Idris. “We believe that they were only experimenting and had no ill intent.”
He warned the public not to fool around with risky experiments, especially those involving explosives.
“Do not try to be a hero or a scientist if you are not sure of what you are doing.”
