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Saturday, December 31, 2005
13 hurt in stampede caused by firecrackers
MANILA -- A wayward firecracker hit a pile of other fireworks at a stall during a festival in the northern Philippines on Friday, setting off loud explosions and triggering a stampede that injured 13 people, officials said.
Mayor James Gordon of Olongapo, a city 80 kilometers northwest of Manila, said the chaos started after a person attending the festival lit a small rocket he had just purchased at a stall.
"Instead of going up, it went in a horizontal position, hitting the other firecrackers in the stall and that started it," Gordon told ABS-CBN television.
Gordon said 13 people were hurt in the stampede, three of them seriously.
Footage from the scene showed firecrackers exploding, triggering a blaze and sending people running.
Two men carried a woman who apparently fainted away.
The building where the firecracker stalls were located was slightly damaged by the fire.
The panic was quickly controlled and the festival continued, Gordon said. (AP)
(December 31, 2005 issue)
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