Village councilor dies after vintage bomb explodes in Nueva Vizcaya

Nueva Vizcaya map. INQUIRER FILES

SANTIAGO CITY — A 42-year-old village councilor was killed instantly, and his worker is in critical condition after an old vintage bomb exploded when they attempted to cut it with a saw in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, on Saturday, Feb. 8, police said in a belated report on Monday.

Major Nova Lyn Aggasid, spokesperson for the Nueva Vizcaya police, confirmed in a phone interview that a village councilor (whose name is withheld as requested by his family), from Barangay Baan, Aritao town, died immediately.

His 33-year-old worker from Nueva Ecija suffered major injuries, including severed legs and shrapnel wounds, and is in critical condition at the Region II Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

The councilor, who also worked as a house contractor, had uncovered the vintage bomb while working at a project site in San Antonio North village in Bambang.

Believing the bomb might contain gold, the councilor and his worker brought it to his house in Almaguer South. They later attempted to saw through the ordnance, triggering the explosion. Neighbors rushed to their aid after hearing the blast.

Initially, witnesses mistook the deafening sound for an explosion from a gas tank or transformer.

The Provincial Explosives and Canine Unit in Nueva Vizcaya is now examining the bomb fragments to determine the type of ordnance involved.

Aggasid noted that the explosion was an accident, and as such, authorities do not plan to file criminal charges.

She urged residents to report any sightings of vintage bombs immediately and to leave the handling of such devices to experts, rather than attempting to handle them themselves.

READ: Nueva Vizcaya school suspends classes over bomb scare