Witnesses said most of the victims were mangled and burned beyond recognition. Officials said, the death toll could reach 50 but as of press time, police confirmed 25 dead and 15 injured in the accident, which took place in Barangay Lacupayan, Tigbao town at around 10:40 a.m.
The explosion tore the truck into pieces, with only its smoldering chassis distinguishable. Body parts were strewn all over the place, and responding authorities said casualties could mount.
"Police forces are scouring the area for more victims," Police Regional Office 9 (PRO) director Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said. "The tanker disintegrated."
He said the truck, which was carrying carbon dioxide, was traveling downhill along the national highway when it lost its brakes and slammed into a boulder on the roadside. The impact caused the truck to overturn, pinning the injured driver to his seat. It was not immediately known if the truck had other passengers. The truck was believed to be on its way to Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay.
Caringal said the truck exploded after about 20 minutes just as a crowded RS Transit Bus drove alongside it. Earlier reports said the truck was carrying liquefied petroleum gas or LPG.
Caringal said other accounts showed that the driver of the truck had slowed down after other drivers told him there was a fire under the vehicle.
He said the truck exploded before he could stop an oncoming bus, which took the full force of the explosion.
"We don’t know the exact number of casualties as they were rushed to different hospitals," Caringal said.
Survivor Dexter Yabo said he and his brother were in a car heading for Pagadian when they witnessed the explosion.
"The truck suddenly swerved. We got off our vehicle and tried to help but when we were some 30 meters (yards) away, we heard someone yelling, ‘It’s exploding’. And then there was a powerful blast," Yabo said as he was being treated in a hospital in Pagadian.
"When the smoke cleared, we saw people wounded, crying for help. The cargo truck was gone."
An AFP reporter at the scene said he saw a leg hanging from a tree and a severed head in a ravine, with pieces of flesh and intestines lying on the road.
Regional military chief Col. Emmanuel Sison said the blast appeared to be an accident and was not caused by foul play.
But Maj. Gary Lacheca, the local military executive officer, said explosives experts were on the scene to investigate as a precaution.
Private vehicles, ambulances, and a military truck brought the injured, many of them seriously, to hospitals in Pagadian and Zamboanga cities. The dead were brought to morgues in Pagadian, which is around 30 kilometers from the blast site.
Tanker crew Rolando Fermin was burned beyond recognition, while his injured co-worker, who remained unidentified, was rushed to an undisclosed hospital for third degree burns, Mandaluyong police chief Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, said. Velasquez was at the scene of the accident.
He said the two were supervising the loading of chemicals at the depot of Asian Chemicals Co. beside the Pasig River in Barangay Namayan at about 6 p.m. when the accident happened. — With Non Alquitran, AFP, AP