EIGHT workers of a lumber company were killed while five others were wounded after a mortar shell the victims were tinkering with accidentally went off in Zamboanga del Norte Wednesday afternoon, police said.
Chief Insp. Helen Galvez, spokesperson of the Zamboanga Peninsula regional police, said this occurred inside the Sirawai Plywood Lumber Corp. in Sirawai town at about 5 p.m.
Galvez said the dead included four members of the Timbulaan family—Robert, 9; Loed, 8; Ben, 6; and Jeofer 18; two from the Ballamban clan—Roel, 18, and Lade, 18; Marcelo Antogan, 21 and Junrey Sango, 18.
Still confined in hospital were Lito Timbulaan, 37; Joey Sundongan, 18; Edick Malanao, 18; Arnel Quemas, 15 and Junrey Quemas, 13, police said.
Initial investigation disclosed the victim Antogan found a mortar shell in an open field inside the lumber yard and eventually brought it to their bunkhouse.
There, Antogan, with his relatives and neighbors, tried to open the mortar shell but it suddenly went off, killing six of the victims on the spot.
Two of the victims were rushed to the hospital but died minutes later.
“Surrounded by relatives and neighbors, he [Antogan] tried to pry it open, using a hammer when it suddenly exploded,” Galvez said in the report.
Police said the mortar shell was among the unexploded ammunition used in blasting a large chunk of boulders inside the company.
Authorities are still investigating how the lumber company got possession of the mortar shell and the source of the explosive.