3rd Fort Boni blast victim dies

MANILA, Philippines - A female officer who was among those critically injured in the May 7 explosion at Fort Bonifacio died Wednesday afternoon.

1Lt. Dinar Alosada died at around 3:30 p.m. while fighting for her life at the East Avenue Medical Center’s burn unit, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said.

Two other Army officers, Cpl. Bernabe Mota and M/Sgt. Ferdinand Rafal, also died while undergoing hospital treatment for injuries suffered from the blaze and the series of explosions that followed, which destroyed the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Battalion at the Army Support Command (Ascom) compound.

More than 30 Army servicemen and responding personnel from the Bureau of Fire Protection were also injured in the blaze.

The Army’s Board of Inquiry, chaired by Ascom chief Maj. Gen. Gamaliel Cruz, said it found that the fire was caused by a spark from an overloaded electrical line in the EOD battalion’s training room.

The board, which submitted its findings to Army chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri last Tuesday, also noted that there was no safety officer at the time of the fire. This violates the standard operating procedure at the facility, the board said.

Iriberri has ordered the relief of the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Florante Sison, and barred him from holding any key Army position for two years.

At the time of the incident, Sison, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1991, was attending an official function outside his headquarters.

Detoyato said investigators also found that combustible materials were store adjacent to offices in the bomb training school.