Lab results from San Juan blast negative for explosives

Authorities on Sunday stood by their initial findings that the explosion that rocked a commercial building in San Juan City on Saturday was not caused by a bomb.

Senior Supt. Joselito Daniel, San Juan police chief, said that laboratory results from the swabbing of 70 percent to 80 percent of the three affected establishments (Mañosa restaurant, Papalaba laundry house and GV Guide Hair Salon) at the building’s first floor were negative for substances from explosive devices.

“So far, the [lab] results showed that the explosion was not caused by an explosive device,” he added.

A blast ripped through the ground floor of the two-story building at 11 a.m. on Saturday, injuring seven people and damaging four establishments and 17 vehicles.

Authorities earlier said there were indications that it was caused by a leak from a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank and that it emanated from the kitchen of Mañosa restaurant.

Rescuers who were among the first to arrive at the scene had also observed that several LPG tanks in some of the establishments had not been turned off.

Rigor Abutar of the San Juan City engineering office was sent to the scene on Sunday to help check the structural integrity of the building so that the police’s Scene of the Crime Operatives could go back inside and collect more swab samples.