BLAST SITE. Police personnel inspect the scene of the accidental explosion of a gas cylinder tank on Sunday morning (Dec. 27, 2020) in Barangay Poblacion, Norala town in South Cotabato that killed a 10-year-old boy and injured five other persons. The tank, which was reportedly filled with unknown chemicals was used by one of the victims to inflate balloons when it suddenly exploded. (Photo courtesy of the Norala municipal police station)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – A 10-year-old boy was killed while five other persons were injured after a gas cylinder tank accidentally exploded outside a house in Norala town, South Cotabato on Sunday.
Maj. Bernie Faldas, chief of Norala municipal police station, said Monday the incident happened past 9 a.m. at the residence of the Rapista family in Sub-Purok Bliss, Purok Reloquemas in Barangay Poblacion.
He said a balloon vendor identified as Neilfren Cabuhay, 40, and several family members had just finished inflating balloons using what looked like an LPG tank when it suddenly exploded.
The police official said Neilfren’s younger brother Jeffen John Cabuhay, 10, was declared dead on arrival at the Norala District Hospital due to severe body injuries.
He said the vendor, his wife Geralden (39), son Aldrin (10), daughter Chloe (8), and another relative identified as Tanya Emerson (10) sustained various injuries as a result of the blast.
The victims are all residents of Purok Santos, Barangay Zone III in Koronadal City just visiting the area, he said.
Citing accounts from witnesses, Faldas said one of the victims reportedly mixed unknown chemicals and filled the tank with them before the incident.
“The investigation is still ongoing and we’re mainly determining the chemicals that caused the explosion,” he said in a report.
Faldas said they requested technical assistance from the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit and the crime laboratory of the South Cotabato Police Provincial Office to facilitate a speedy investigation.
Neilfren, in an interview over radio station Bombo Radyo in Koronadal City on Monday, said he was the one who mixed the chemicals, which he did not specify but said they had long been using them to produce helium gas that is used to inflate balloons.
He said they were able to pump up at least 20 balloons based on the usual capacity of the tank.
But moments later, he noticed that the tank was unusually heating up so he soaked a cloth with water and covered it.
Neilfren said the cloth dried up fast and while he was about to replace it the tank suddenly exploded.
“The tank could not have sustained the chemical mixture, causing it to evaporate and explode,” he said in the vernacular.
Neilfren said he and his wife Geralden, son Aldrin and Tanya are currently in stable condition as of Monday morning and undergoing treatment at the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital in Koronadal City.
But his daughter Chloe, who lost an arm and a leg due to the explosion, already underwent an operation in a private hospital. (PNA)
