Injured in Army armory blast now 31

MANILA, Philippines - The number of persons injured in an explosion triggered by a fire that completely destroyed the armory of the Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD) battalion building of the Army Support Command (Ascom) at Fort Bonifacio last Wednesday is now pegged at 31, Taguig City fire marshall Junito Maslang said yesterday.

Maslang said the number of injured rose from 25 to 31 after it was found that more firefighters who rushed to the scene of the fire suffered from injuries that were hidden by their thick bunker coats. Maslang said the additional injured are now confined at the Army General Hospital.

Maslang added that he expects more firefighters to feel the ill effects of their exposure to the blast and thick smoke from the fire within the following eight days because of the effect of the blast wave.

“The firefighters were given anti-tetanus shots at the Army General Hospital. The effects of the blast wave will be felt within eight days,” he said.

On the other hand, two soldiers were listed to be in critical condition at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center, AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said yesterday.

One soldier suffered burns on at least 80 percent of his body while the other sustained burns on 70 percent of his body, Zagala said.

Maslang said the fire that reached the first alarm at past 10 a.m. was extinguished at around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Maslang said based on initial investigation, the fire that triggered the explosion at the EOD building started at the ammunition reloading area.

The gutted one-story Army facility is near the headquarters of the Philippine Marines and the Southern Police District.

Maslang stressed that explosives, even for training purposes, should not be kept at the EOD battalion building. He said the bombs were kept in an ordinary storage facility instead of a concrete bunker.

He said the proximity of the soldiers’ barracks to the armory is a violation of the Fire Code. Among the explosives stored at the EOD battalion building are land mines and improvised explosive devices.

Inspection

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima ordered a thorough inspection of other explosives and ammunition storage areas in PNP facilities to prevent a repeat of Wednesday’s explosion.

“We have to conduct inspections in order for us to determine which of the EOD offices need to be renovated or if there is a need to store the explosives in other places,” he said.

Purisima said explosives are no longer stored in Camp Crame, which houses the PNP headquarters, after the PNP’s explosives warehouse caught fire several years ago.