Six Thai migrant workers were wounded Tuesday morning when an old unexploded munition detonated in an orchard near Metula, along Israel’s border with Lebanon. Two were seriously wounded.
Police officers were dispatched to the scene, and bomb disposal specialists were making their way to the area.
Police urged the public not to touch shrapnel, interceptor fragments or other remnants of munitions that may be found in the area. Anyone who encounters a suspicious or unidentified object should keep away and report it to police, authorities said.
The incident comes after prolonged fighting along Israel’s northern border left unexploded ordnance scattered in some areas.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said it received a report at 6:52 a.m. of several men injured in an explosion in an orchard near the northern border town.
“We received a report of several men who were injured in an explosion in an orchard near Metula,” senior MDA medic Moti Barel said. “We arrived at the scene and saw the injured men conscious and suffering from injuries to their bodies.”
Barel said emergency crews began triage and provided treatment at the scene, including stopping bleeding and administering medication.
Working with an IDF medical team, MDA evacuated the wounded by helicopter and ambulances to hospitals while continuing to provide medical treatment, he said.
Moments after the blast
The Metula local council said the explosion occurred in nectarine orchards near the town and was apparently caused by an old unexploded munition that had not previously been located or neutralized.
The council said five of the wounded were evacuated to hospitals, two of them in serious condition. The discrepancy between the council’s figure and MDA’s report of six people wounded was not immediately explained.
“There is no concern of a security incident, and routine activity in the town is continuing,” the council said.
Meanwhile, Arab media reported four airstrikes overnight on the Abu al-Duhur military air base in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Idlib province.
The reports attributed the strikes to Israel. If confirmed, the attack would mark a resumption of Israeli strikes in Syria after a lengthy period without reported IDF attacks there. The military declined to comment on the reports.
Separately, Lebanese media reported Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese villages of al-Mansouri and Deir Seryan, where IDF activity has been more routine.
An Israeli interceptor missile was also launched Tuesday morning from the Western Galilee, apparently at a false target.