Several parents rushed to the Regino Mercado Elementary School to fetch their children. Classes were temporarily stopped after the blast.
No one was reported hurt, except for resident Maximo Mainit, a dispatcher, who was allegedly the one who found the bomb believed to have been buried by Japanese soldiers during the war.
Mainit, who was nowhere to be found after the incident, reportedly sustained wounds in the face and abdomen.
Investigation showed that Mainit unearthed the bomb in a septic tank nearby.
Mainit smashed the bomb to test if it was active but it did not explode.
Not satisfied, Mainit then placed the bomb inside a barrel and set it on fire. The bomb exploded and caused a tremor in the surroundings, triggering panic among residents. — Freeman News Service