Monday, February 05, 2007
Authorities rule out terrorism in tanker truck blast (6:45 p.m.)
MANILA -- Investigators have concluded that the explosion of a tanker truck carrying chemicals that killed 50 people and injured 65 was an accident and not a terrorist attack, officials said Monday.
The tanker truck, carrying liquefied carbon dioxide, was negotiating a downhill road on Friday when its brakes failed, causing it to slam into a mountainside and overturn in Tigbao town in southern Zamboanga del Sur province, police said.
Witnesses saw smoke and fire underneath the tanker truck before it exploded, killing many passengers on a minibus that was following the truck and other motorists who had been slowed by the accident, police said.
Although witness accounts pointed to an accident, investigators checked the possibility of terrorist involvement because of the huge number of casualties and the known presence of al Qaida-linked militants and communist rebels in the region, police Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said.
Forensic and post-blast investigators did not find any evidence of terrorism, Caringal said.
The truck owner told police the liquefied carbon dioxide was to be delivered to a Coca-Cola plant in the southern port city of Zamboanga, police said. (AP) |
