Trike driver killed, 4 hurt in Ecija blast

GUIMBA, Nueva Ecija—A tricycle driver was killed, while four others, including two teenagers, were hurt in an explosion along a national highway in Pasong Intsik village here on Monday afternoon.

Military explosives experts have not yet determined what triggered the 5:40 p.m. blast that killed Marvin Barrientos, 40, and hurt his passengers, public school teacher Joe Laurence Mata, a boy enrolled in grade 10, and a grade 11 female pupil, according to Insp. Ronald Stockton, Guimba deputy chief of police.

Mata was treated for eye injuries at a hospital in Tarlac City.

The fourth injured man was the driver of another tricycle which collided with Barrientos’ vehicle when the explosion forced it to swerve. His name was not released at press time.

A village councilman who lives about 500 meters away from the site of the explosion said the blast “shook the earth.”

Stockton said the police “could not say anything conclusive yet” about the blast.