2 dead as IEDs explode

NAGA CITY—Two persons were killed and two others were wounded after they accidentally set off the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) they were repacking inside a nipa hut in Balud, Masbate, on Thursday, police said.

PO2 Estrella Torres  of the public information division of the Masbate police said the four were repacking the explosives inside a nipa hut next to the house of village chair Lina Recto in Barangay Pajo, Balud, at 5 p.m. when the explosion occurred.

Locally known as “bugas-bugas” or “kolorato,” the explosives were for use in illegal fishing,  Torres said.

She  identified those killed as Jelly Sese, a resident of Barangay Pajo, and Lolito Tabique, a resident of Samar; and the wounded as Rechil Sese, also a resident of Barangay Pajo and a relative of Jelly, and a certain Delia of Samar.

Jelly  and Tabique were dead on the spot from blast wounds.

Recto, the nipa hut owner and alleged employer of the victims, immediately fled after the blast with other household members before investigators arrived,  Torres said. Shiena M. Barrameda, Inquirer S. Luzon