Tuesday, September 12, 2006
LPG tank blast kills 2 persons
By Mia E. Abellana & Aledel Gonzalez-Cuizon
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
With Azucena K. Quilantang
TWO persons were killed, while 11 others were wounded when a liquefied petroleum gas tank (LPG) exploded in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City yesterday morning.
Most of the victims were just passing by when the tank in Gene’s Laundry exploded about 8 a.m.
The explosion caused a traffic jam that lasted nearly three hours and fueled speculations that it was a bombing attack linked to the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy or the opening of an international legislators’ gathering in Cebu City.
Authorities quickly assured that no bombs were used, but admitted the industrial accident served as a drill of sorts for their security duties during a high-profile summit in December.
Lorna Ruben, 21, who worked at the laundry, suffered second-degree burns.
She told reporters that the explosion occurred when she switched on the dryer, which was powered by a 38.8-kilogram LPG tank. Ruben opened the shop at 7 a.m.
She admitted she smelled something when she entered the shop but did not think it was the smell of leaking gas.
Though police have ruled out the possibility that a bomb caused the explosion, Ruben’s cousin Ritchell Ricarte, asked that investigators not rush to conclude the probe.
She still believes that a bomb caused the blast because Ruben’s clothes smelled like gunpowder.
Diosdada Jao, who remained unidentified until yesterday afternoon, was thrown some 10 meters away from the laundry shop, onto the Cebu North Road’s rush-hour traffic. She did not survive.
Call for help
Felipe Hermoso, the other fatality, was on a motorcycle headed for Liloan town when shards of glass ripped through the side of his neck and parts of his stomach.
He was still breathing when he reached the Mandaue City District Hospital. Doctors ordered him transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), but he did not make it.
His companion, Genaro Trocio, 40, suffered cuts on his side.
He told reporters at the Mandaue City District Hospital emergency room that he and Hermoso were thrown 30 meters away when the blast occurred.
Trocio, an electrician, said Hermoso picked him up from his house in Labangon and was bringing him to Liloan to have something fixed.
“Ang akong pangutana kung asa mi makapangayo ug tabang ani nga pinansyal. Daghan kaayo ug X-ray nga gikinahanglan, daghang risita unya wa ra ba gyud mi kwarta,” said Trocio’s wife Gina. She still has pending promissory notes at the Mandaue City Hospital for the delivery of her baby two months ago.
Provincial Board Member Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, who went to the VSMMC to check on the victims, said: “Let me look into how the Province could help. Obviously there are safety measures that must be put into place.”
Victims
Hermoso, 57, was already dead when his body was brought to the hospital. He sustained a fatal injury in the neck, said Dr. Manuel Gines, VSMMC Emergency Room chief.
Still at the VSMMC, Juanita Cedillo, 35, underwent surgery for wounds in her neck.
The other victims who were rushed to the government-run hospital in Cebu City were Ceferina Bijag, 53, Vicente Maloloy-on, 30, and Ulysses Ulgasan, 48.
Three children who were with their mother selling food across the street were also taken to the Cortes General Hospital.
Marjorie Tiglao, 11, wailed in the emergency room as a doctor pulled out bits of concrete and glass embedded in her torso.
“Ayoko na, lola,” she screamed. She had been sent to buy food sold by her aunt, Carmela Cabago, 42.
Cabago, with her two children Rosemarie, 5, and Maria Lucia, 1, were across the street from Gene’s Laundry in front of DM Enterprises.
Cabago’s teenage daughter Mary Ann said the explosion was so loud that they did not notice they were injured until they saw that they were bleeding.
Blast, smoke
Elvie Sanchez, who worked at DM Enterprises, was also wounded.
“Kusog kayo ang buto pero wa may kayo. Baga kaayo nga aso (The blast was extremely loud, but there was no fire, just thick smoke),” she said.
Since she was the only employee in the store who was in front, she was the only one wounded.
Another victim was identified as Vicente Maloloy-on, a multicab driver. He was badly wounded and could barely talk as bandages were wrapped around his head, arms and legs.
Rolando Booc, 40, and his wife Elizabeth, 41, were on their way to Asia Trade, where Elizabeth works, when the blast happened.
Ermie Cortes was in his house when his chandelier fell as a result of the blast.
Most of them thought that a bomb had exploded.
Residents in the next town, Consolacion, claimed they heard and felt the blast.
SPO1 Noel Triste, who was sent by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 to investigate, said they found no indication that the blast was caused by an explosive.
Sparks
He said that initially, they believe the gas tank was left open the whole night and when Ruben switched on the dryer, it caused sparks and ignited.
Because the laundry was an enclosed space, the impact of the blast was bigger.
The laundry shop used LPG tanks to power their three washing machines and three dryers.
Gene’s Laundry is one of the occupants of GJDIF Building, which belongs to former Mandaue City vice mayor Demetrio Cortes Jr. Epe Auto Parts and Green Peaks flanked the laundry shop.
The explosion wrecked the concrete partitions between shops and shattered glass doors. It also lifted the concrete slab of the second floor and exposed the reinforcement steel bars.
The blast also broke the windows of Cortes’ house, located at the back of the building.
The accident caused a traffic gridlock that stretched all the way to Consolacion town.
Northbound vehicles were given one lane, but all vehicles to Cebu City had to be diverted to other routes in Barangay Canduman.
Traffic jam
Even the police had a hard time reaching the site because of the traffic jam.
Classes were later cancelled at the Basak Elementary School, less than 500 meters away, while parents waited for word that their children were safe.
Tired of waiting for the traffic to ease, employees and students stepped out of the jeepneys and walked.
In a press conference at the City Hall yesterday afternoon, Mandaue City Police Director Eduardo Catabas confirmed that the police and bomb squad didn’t find any bomb components, such as blasting caps or cords.
That a bomb was used remains a “remote possibility,” he added.
Mayor Thadeo Ouano stressed there was no connection between yesterday’s explosion and the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed over 3,000 persons in the United States.
Because of the explosion, Ouano instructed the City Engineering Office and the Mandaue City Fire Department to inspect similar establishments.
LPG tanks
Fortunato Sanchez, husband of laundry shop owner Leonor Sanchez, said yesterday that the company will shoulder all hospital expenses of the victims.
The company is ready to face the consequences of the accident, he added. Sanchez, however, refused to comment on what could have caused the explosion.
The laundry shop, named after Leonor’s mother, Generosa, has at least 10 branches in Metro Cebu. Gene’s Laundry has been operating for three years and has been using LPG tanks in all its branches.
According to Sanchez, their laundry shops have complied with all the requirements for their permit. Laundry shop attendants are also trained on how to use the equipment safely.
Sanchez estimated the damage at the laundry shop at some P300,000.
Laundry shop manager Nancy Codiñera said the shop opens at 7 a.m. but operations start around an hour later, when the designated attendant for that shift has finished cleaning the shop.
Policemen found two LPG tanks intact inside the shop. One of them reportedly closed the valve of one of the tanks because it was still open.
Dry run
According to SPO1 Noel Triste of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7, there were no traces that indicate that a bomb could have exploded.
He said that the investigation will also include the installation of the valves that connected the washing machines and dryers to the LPG tanks.
Catabas said that yesterday’s accident turned into a “dry run” of their response to emergencies during the Asean Summit in December.
He said it was difficult to control the crowd that gathered at the scene, because the responding policemen were stuck in traffic.
The highway was opened again to traffic around 10:30 a.m. but the flow was snail-paced. It was almost 11 a.m. when another explosion occurred—causing more jitters—but this time it was only the tire of a passing vehicle.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 12, 2006 issue)
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