NBI joins probe in Cavite fireworks factory blast

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Terrorism Division is currently assisting in the investigation of the local police in Trece Martires, Cavite, on the explosion caused by the Starmaker Firecracker Factory Co.

Lawyer Allan Contado, NBI spokesman and chief of the NBI Anti-Graft Division, confirmed that the NBI-AGD has started working together with the local police in Cavite.

Contado, however, said they have no findings yet, as he declined to state any details of the investigation.

He said they have joined the task force of the local police in its post-blast investigation.

Reports said that police have ruled out faulty electrical wiring as the cause of the explosion that obliterated the factory.

Several persons were killed, while many others were injured due to the blast. 

Investigators said that there was no electrical connection at the site where the blast occurred.

Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad said police investigators checking through the debris found no ingredients of any explosive or dynamite that could have triggered the blast.

“We completely ruled out faulty electrical wiring as the cause because the area has no electrical connection being a firecracker factory. We also failed to find samples of C-4 explosives and dynamites. What we recovered in the blast site are fragments of firecrackers,” Palad was quoted as saying.

Police have identified some of the casualties as Clodelio Iso, Angelo Francisco, Marion Rodrin, Diomedes Enano, Christian Panganiban, Gerardo Amparo Jr., Arnold Pamplona, Susan Decillo and Ericson Layno.

Palad said Pamplona succumbed to multiple injuries while the mutilated and charred bodies of Decillo and Layno were identified and claimed by their relatives.

Listed as still missing are Onor Lugame, Belen Rodriguez and Erickson Layno.

Palad had said death toll was expected to increase, citing some body parts still unclaimed and unidentified.

He said Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) specialists and Explosive and Ordnance Division (EOD) experts of the Cavite police have looked into the cause of the explosion.

The explosion was so powerful that it sent shockwaves in a three-kilometer radius that shattered windows and toppled concrete fences of nearby homes, knocking out electricity and raining down unexploded fireworks in some areas.

Body parts were strewn several meters from the blast site.

Witnesses said the blast had gouged out a crater 25 feet wide that was big enough to fit a school bus.

The explosion occurred in the area where at least three 20-footer vans loaded with finished firecracker products were parked in the one-hectare factory.

Authorities also estimated P27.6-million worth of property was destroyed by the fire following the explosion.