25 injured in Army armory blast

MANILA, Philippines - At least 25 people were injured when a fire triggered a powerful blast rocked the explosives and ordnance (EOD) battalion building of the Army Support Command (Ascom) inside the Philippine Army Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City Wednesday morning.

Philippine Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said those injured were army personnel, members of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and fire volunteers.

Detoyato said among the injured were eight soldiers, seven firefighters and a civilian, including a photographer from his office.

“I was a few meters away when the fire broke out and caused a loud explosion,” Detoyato told reporters.

Detoyato added that those wounded were hit by shrapnel when the explosion happened at the EOD building. Detoyato said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were kept at the building for “instructional purposes.”

Those wounded were immediately rushed to a nearby Philippine army hospital.

Col. Rovelene Bambao, a medical doctor, said five soldiers and a civilian were moved to other hospitals because they suffered serious injuries.

SFO2 Pedrito Fulo of the Taguig City Fire Department identified some of the injured as Joel Lopez, a  volunteer of Barangay Fort Bonifacio Fire Brigade and Rodolfo Franco, a fireman of Parañaque City.

Three others, who remain unidentified, were also injured and rushed to the hospital. Two of them were volunteers of Pasig Brotherhood Fire Brigade and were brought to V. Luna Medical Center in Quezon City.

Initial investigation of the Taguig City Fire Department showed that the fire started at around 10:42 a.m. and reached third alarm before it was placed under control at around 11:05 a.m. The fire as of 4:00 p.m. has not been declared extinguished.

Fulo said they have yet to identify the cause of fire.

"We have yet to identify the origin of fire. We don't have any information as of the moment," he said.

Meanwhile, Taguig Fire chief Junito Maslang said explosives should have not been kept at the EOD battalion building.

Maslang said the explosives were kept in an ordinary storage facility instead of a concrete bunker.

Maslang added that the proximity of the soldiers’ barracks with the storage of the explosives is a violation of the fire code. Among the explosives stored at the EOD battalion building were land mines and improvised explosive devices.

Masalnag said five of the victims sustained serious injuries. He identified them as : Master Sgt. Ferdinand Rafal, 1st Lt. Dinar Alosada, who both sustained burns in 80 percent of their bodies, Capt. Julius Gallon, commanding officer of the AFP Fire Station, who sustained burns in the face; Sgt. Romel Septino and Capt. Rosalino Galla. They were rushed to the V. Luna Hospital.

Firefighters were still “flushing” the building, which was completely destroyed as of 4 p.m.