Fireworks blast causes fire near bus terminal

ZAMBOANGA CITY – An accidental fireworks explosion triggered a conflagration near the bus terminal here around 9 p.m. Friday and also plunged the villages of Guiwan and Putik into darkness.

“There were successive blasts that lit the sky and there were red and white smoke,” Senior Supt. Jose Chiquito Malayo, the city police director, said.

Omar Sahi, chair of the Zamboanga City Electric Coop, said the fire affected a power transformer – which was why electricity was cut off in the two villages.

Sahi said a branch of Mercury Drugstore and other big establishments are located near the site of the explosion but he was unaware if these were in danger of the fire.

The fire was ongoing and firemen were doing their best to contain the conflagration, Malayo said.