Three people were killed in a mysterious explosion in a luxury apartment building in Taguig, Metro Manila, a Philippine government official said yesterday, as officials lowered the death toll from the blast.
Philippine Secretary of the Interior Mar Roxas said authorities were still trying to assess what had triggered the blast, but that initial investigations found no evidence of a bomb.
“We still have not seen any triggering device of any kind among the debris,” Roxas told reporters hours after the explosion in a fifth floor unit in the high-end condominium, while bomb-sniffing dogs had found no sign of explosives.
“We are not ruling out anything,” he told reporters just before touring the shattered apartment.
The explosion late on Friday knocked out the wall of the condominium unit, sending a huge chunk of rubble hurtling to the street where it crushed a delivery van, killing the three men inside.
The Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council had earlier said that three other men had been found dead in the room where the blast occurred, but later withdrew the statement, saying it was inaccurate.
Hours later, debris from the building still littered the area, with some pieces of rubble hurled dozens of meters by the force of the blast.
The once-bustling area around the condominium remained cordoned off as police and fire investigators searched the building.
Roxas said they would treat the area as a crime scene to preserve evidence until they had determined the cause of the blast.
Roxas said the explosion injured five people, including a US national who was hit by flying glass and the occupant of the unit, who suffered burns.
The condominium, located in an upper-class residential development called “The Fort,” was evacuated while it underwent an inspection, he added.
The explosion took place just a few meters away from a popular area of restaurants, bars and shops that attracts thousands of people during weekends.
Filipino civilians have in the past been targeted in bomb attacks, often carried out by Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group started in the 1990s with seed money from the al-Qaeda network.
Abu Sayyaf’s 2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila killed more than 100 people in the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history.
However, the group is largely concentrated in the southern Philippines rather than around Manila.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
RSS