Lantaka claims life of six-year-old boy

CEBU, Philippines - The danger posed by the lantaka, which is a modern version of the bamboo cannon made for Christmas revelry became very real when it claimed the life of a six-year-old boy in Talisay City last Sunday.

The modern version of the bamboo cannon is made using empty plastic bottles, PVC pipes or empty cans with paint thinner or other alcohol-based solutions used to fuel the blast.

The victim was identified as Yuri Menguito of barangay Tangke, who succumbed to burning in his heart and lungs while at a public hospital in Cebu City at around 3 p.m. last Sunday.

 He was the first lantaka-related casualty in Cebu.

 According to the police report, Menguito was playing with his meter-long homemade cannon outside their house last Saturday morning.

When his lantaka did not fire, the boy reportedly looked into the barrel, but in the process accidentally triggered it when the firing device came into contact with the floor.

The lantaka went off on the face of the boy forcing him to inhale the toxic gases.

Supt. Henry Biñas, chief of the Talisay City Police, earlier confiscated these devices from those playing with them due to reports that these are being used to scare people off by pointing it at them when fired.

Biñas, however, said this type of noisemaker is not illegal, but if it poses as a safety risk, then the police would not hesitate to confiscate them.

 In Tangke, before Christmas, police seized at least two sacks of lantakas, after barangay chief Perla Cabanes complained about the indiscriminate use in their area.

 Cabanes has once again asked the police to confiscate all lantakas to prevent anymore untoward incident. – Liv Campo/NLQ    (FREEMAN NEWS)