BY RHENJIE MARIE CALANTAS & RUBY SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – A police officer and two civilians were injured in an explosion at the storage facility of the Regional Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and Canine Unit (RECU) Region 6 in the compound of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) yesterday, Jan. 8.
Patrolwoman and EOD K9 handler Shyrine Manuel, 25; Fernando Sabidalas, 49, a civilian client of the ICPO Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Unit (TIEU); and internet provider lineman John Mark Garcia sustained minor injuries. All were given proper treatment and are now safe.
“Na-release naman ‘yung dalawang civilian, ‘yung isa kasi nagpapa-blotter dito sa atin sa Iloilo Traffic Engineering Unit tapos ‘yung isa naman ay may inasikasong trabaho dito, ang PLDT man. Okay naman, very minor lang naman. Tapos ‘yung police patrol woman naman natin ay ire-release na pero ako ang nagsabi na kailangan na mag-further medical checkup pa,” said Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Police Brigadier General Leo Francisco.
Major Shella Mae Sangrines, chief of the Iloilo City Police Station (ICPS) 1, said the blast happened at 10:15 a.m.
Manuel was cleaning the television set when she heard a loud explosion in the storage room of their office.
“Ang traffic office and EOD isa lang ka building pero sa second floor ang traffic, sa idalom ang EOD,” Sangrines said.
An initial assessment of Police Major Serafin Jun D. Reyes, chief of RECU-6, showed that the explosion was most likely caused by inappropriate storage temperature inside the EOD facility.
Reyes estimated the temperature prior to the explosion to be at 23 to 25 degrees Celsius, hence causing the initiation of silver nitrate (low explosive powder) used in the training of their EOD personnel.
“We are thankful nga wala nag-explode ang mga [other] explosives sa sulod kay dira ginatago ang iban nga explosives,” Sangrines added.
Francisco explained that, “‘Yong mga naka-confiscate kasi na explosives ay more on kailangan naming i-present sa korte tapos ‘yong korte ang magsasabi kung kailan ito ilalagak o kailan ito i-render ng safe.”
The incident damaged the RECU-6 office and equipment, and TIEU and City Drug Enforcement Unit offices.
“So ‘yun ‘yung mga bagay na kailangan naming pag-aralan dahil itong mga chemicals na ‘to ay napaka-dangerous kaya dapat talaga its time na may separate building sila na hindi kasama dito sa building na nagca-cater sa mga tao,” Francisco said./PN