Severed hand ‘dropped at school by bird’ may have belonged to injured child

‘Partial human remains’ believed to be a severed hand have been found at a school in Ireland in bizarre circumstances.

Garda officers were alerted to the gruesome find at Our Lady Immaculate School in Dublin’s Darndale area on Friday afternoon.

The badly decomposed hand is thought to have been dropped into the school yard by a bird at around 10.30am, according to Irish broadcaster RTE.

Pupils weren’t present as the school is closed for the midterm break.

Irish police said they are keeping an open mind as to what happened and do not believe there was necessarily foul play involved.

One line of inquiry appears to be that the hand belongs to a local child who suffered a serious injury last night.

Detectives said the child was hurt when a nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) canister exploded, RTE added.

Forensic tests are currently ongoing as part of efforts to identify who the hand belonged to.

‘A scene is currently being held and the State Pathologist has been notified, in line with standard practice’, a statement said.

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