3 dead in firecracker factory explosion in Bulacan

BOCAUE, Bulacan – Three teenage victims of an explosion in an abandoned firecracker factory here died this week, authorities said on Friday.

Supt. Amado Mendoza, Bocaue police chief, said Isaac Paraiso and Jamil Roxas, both 15, died on Tuesday after suffering from severe burns.

Mayor Joni Villanueva-Tugna said another victim died in a hospital on Thursday night.

The three were among the five teenagers taken to hospitals on January 26 after an abandoned firecracker factory in a remote rice field in Barangay Lolomboy exploded.

Tugna said the teenagers tried opening coconuts they found near the factory by banging these against a drum filled with chemicals being used to manufacture fountains, triggering the explosion.

Mendoza said they were still looking into the possible liabilities of the factory’s owners who might be charged for violation of fire safety code and for abandoning the shanty without proper security and protection preparations./lzb