My God,only In The Philippines

[Jollygoodfellow]

Accidental bomb blast kills 4 in Philippines

:hystery:

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An artillery round accidentally exploded while a welder and police commandos tinkered with it with an acetylene torch Wednesday, killing four people, including two policemen, in the Philippine capital, officials said.

Ten other people, including another policeman, was wounded in the powerful blast in an ironworks shop in suburban Taguig city in the capital where the policemen brought the explosive apparently to have it defused and opened, police Senior Superintendent Tomas Apolinario Jr. said.

Investigators were trying to determine where the policemen got the artillery round and why they brought it to an ironworks shop outside a police camp in Taguig instead of handing it to ordnance experts, who can safely defuse it, said Apolinario, who heads the Taguig police force.

"There was a procedural lapse in the way they handled this artillery round," Apolinario said.

The lapse with handling explosive material came as authorities investigate a blast that happened Monday in a vacant lot in Manila's financial district. It did not injure anyone.

The sprawling police camp in Taguig, southeast of Manila, used to have a depot for unexploded munitions and vintage bombs but a huge, accidental explosion at the site forced authorities to close it years ago.

Apolinario said the policemen failed to defuse and open the artillery round with a wrench, prompting them to bring it to a welder.

Police officer Salvador Bassig, who went to the scene shortly after the blast, said a police commando and the welder died at the ironworks shop while another policeman and a civilian died while being brought to a hospital.

A police officer was in serious condition after being wounded in the explosion, which damaged the welder's shop, Bassig said.

The explosion happened amid concerns over the apparent mortar round explosion in the capital's Makati financial district, which prompted President Benigno Aquino III to call a security meeting.

Aquino ordered security officials to investigate possible terrorism links but added the blast was apparently meant to scare because the explosive was placed away from crowded areas.

Aquino tried to play down the explosion, citing attacks even in places known for their safety like Norway, where a gunman killed dozens at a youth camp last year and in Tokyo, where a deadly nerve gas attack hit its subway system in 1995.

"If this was a terrorist or an insane element ... there was really no intention to inflict harm," Aquino told reporters. "I think we are not any worse off than a lot of other countries."

Aquino warned of a possible terrorist attack on a Roman Catholic procession attended by millions on Jan. 9 in Manila, triggering a massive security alarm. The raucous 22-hour parade, however, passed without any incident and security officials lifted a terrorist alert.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqNnYbY1JCAR-mkGBwTsFsqkvJcA?docId=766b3629d5c34056b1fe804256d97def

[Old55]

You can't fix stupid.

[Call me bubba]

HERO'S these men are TRUE hero's, they knew or at least was taught that any "military" shell is ACTIVE yet they disregarded this BASIC instruction, any one who has grown up in the military or lived on base or served ,KNOWS that any SHELL,BULLET, bomb casing SHOULD be treated as a LIVE WEAPON.these men well?? must been hungry so they tried to get a few pesos of metal. THEY paid the PRICE , AT LEAST THE GENE POOL IS NOW A LITTLE LESS ..

[JJReyes]

At one time, you could purchase a firecracker with the explosive equivalent of seven hand grenades. They were used for dynamite fishing, which killed all the small fish and stunned the big ones. The fishermen would then scoop all the floating fish. The blast also destroyed the coral reefs. The powder came from artillery shells.

[Old55]

Thank you JJR, I did not know how they got the explosives. I've done a lot of diving in Philippines the damage from blast fishing is shameful.

[Jake]

Very sad for those that were killed. If they survived, they should have been charged withfelony stupidity. Police commandos? Give me a break......Jake

[FlyAway]

Maybe they wanted to sell the High Explosives and metal content? I do no think anyone would knowingly take a risk like that unless there was some sort of monetary or personal gain of some sort.

[Call me bubba]

Very sad for those that were killed. If they survived, they should have been charged withfelony stupidity. Police commandos? Give me a break......Jake

I have read in another RP paper, that the WIDOW ,who has 5childern,1 still being nursed.Has "blamed"(here goes the famous RP blame game) the police or the men that brought the Explosive device to her late husbands welding shop. As they "asked" him to (cant recall the story) open it ?? .Stupidity jake? I am not sure if we should call it thatPerhaps,poor judgement? lack of training? under the influence?but as i think more & more about it Yes Stupidity may be the ONLY word to describe their actionsEven the brightest of minds do make mistakes, or use poor judgement

[Mike S]

Here's the kicker ..... they claimed (from the cop that lived) that they wanted to keep it as a souvenir ...... and get this ... it was a mortar round not a bomb ..... who would want a mortar round made in 1975 to keep as a souvenir ...... I keep wondering why the block wasn't leveled with the media saying it was a bomb ..... I guess anything explosive is considered a bomb ...... now the bombs they found in Cebu were bombs ........ :89:

[Tatoosh]

I kinda gotta love this. Though I don't want to point fingers for stupidity. Sounds like a couple of "wrenches" I have known along the way. One of my best friends, a maintenance supervisor at that, was trying to get his lawnmower motor to work. And to encourage it to turn over, instead of priming it with gas, he used acetylene or some gas just a brilliant. Talk about expedited disassembly! Luckily no one was hurt and his manager's salary allowed for discretionary funds to rebuild the thing. I rather salute the bravery that he used his own mistakes as an example of what not to do in his safety talks.