IT WAS a lucky escape for a Malaysian boy.

He survived a deadly mortar bomb blast because of his father's concern for him.

The 7-year-old was playing next to his father, Mr Zaidi Jaafar, when it started raining.

Mr Jaafar then told him to return to their home.

Minutes later, his father was dead.

HURT: Madam Jamilah's wounds were so deep that her bones were exposed. The area where the explosion happened.

According to Guang Ming Daily, Mr Jaafar, his wife, Madam Jamilah Ismail, and their friend, Indonesian Rustam Ali, had been looking for scrap metal at a sawmill in Ulu Tiram, near Johor Baru, on Friday night.

Mr Jaafar, 35, found the 30cm-long World War II-era mortar bomb but mistook it as scrap metal.

He started hammering at it and it exploded, killing him and Mr Ali, 39, instantly.

Madam Jamilah, 35, was seriously injured.

A factory worker who was watching television in the worker's quarters heard the blast and felt the building shake at about 6.20pm.

He ran out towards the sawmill and saw Mr Jaafar lying under a tree, with his right leg almost blown off.

Mr Ali was sitting on the ground, his body covered with wounds.

'Zaidi and Rustam appeared to be dead already. Jamilah was lying on the ground groaning in pain,' the 44-year-old worker said.

'Both her legs were bloodied, and her wounds were so deep, I could see through to her bones.'

The worker contacted the police and called for an ambulance, which arrived at about 7pm and took Madam Jamilah to hospital.

Madam Jamilah was admitted to the intensive care unit of Sultan Ismail Hospital. No visitors were allowed.

Bernama reported that Madam Jamilah was thankful to her husband for sacrificing his life and shielding her from the explosion.

Her sister Siti Fatimah, 36, said Madam Jamilah told her this while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

'Jamilah, who was in great pain, told me she would have been killed if not for her husband, as she was standing behind him,' she added.