Cotabato grenade blast kills 1, hurts 3
MATALAM, Cotabato–A plantation worker was killed while three of his companions were critically injured by a grenade explosion Thursday night in a remote village here, police said.
The blast occurred at 7 p.m. in Barangay (village) Kidama.
According to Major Arniel Melocotones, Matalam police chief, the victim, Oto Biangan Lamalan, 20, sustained shrapnel injuries in his body and was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital.
Those injured and now recuperating at a hospital in Barangay Poblacion were Angara Mangadta, Esmael Landing and Kentol Macaalay, all Maguindanaon teenagers and residents of Barangay Kidama.
The four are workers at a sugarcane plantation in the village.
Melocotones said Lamalan was toying with the grenade while they were at the equipment yard. Its safety pin was accidentally removed and it exploded seconds later.
“We are determining how the teens got hold of the fragmentation grenade,” Melocotones said.
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