Grenade explosion kills 3, hurts 3 others

SARANGANI, Philippines - Three villagers were killed, one of them a pre-school child, while three others were badly injured on Wednesday in an accidental explosion of a 40-millimeter shoulder-fire grenade in Barangay Lumasal in Maasim town.

The explosive projectile, which can only be fired using a launcher to hit far targets, reportedly fell from the pocket of a villager named Rolando Tamuay, and exploded when it landed on the ground.

Tamuay, 32, and his sister, Jenny Tamuay-Dula, 36, both died on the spot from injuries they sustained in the explosion.

Tamuay’s four-year-old daughter, who sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of her body, succumbed while being treated in a hospital two hours later.

Insp. Rodel Javison, chief of the Maasim municipal police, said they are now trying to determine from where Tamuay got the grenade projectile, based on statements of his friends and relatives.

Javison said Tamuay’s 30-year-old pregnant wife, Laila, and neighbors named Dina Abhey, 31, and Mamie Cabelol, 55, who were injured in the blast, are now undergoing medication at a hospital.

One relative had told Javison that Tamuay found the grenade at his farm and decided to bring it home to be sold to a junkshop.