Explosion, fire hit AFP-PNP camp in Iloilo; 1 hurt

An officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was injured as explosion and fire hit a police-military facility in Iloilo City before dawn Wednesday.

The fire started before 3 a.m., when a loud explosion hit the AFP Explosives and Ordnance Division (EOD), radio dzBB's Iloilo affiliate Melinda Catahay reported.

"Fire out na mga 4 a.m. Ang sunog nag-umpisa mga 2:30 [ayon sa] ating kasamahan sa Camp Delgado [at] nag-umpisa sa Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team [office] ng Philippine Army," Western Visayas police head Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said in a separate interview on dzBB.

He said the part of the wooden building that was burned had been built as early as the 1950s.

Cruz said he ordered the area cordoned off and the incident investigated, noting the explosions indicated explosives may have been stored in the EOD.

Rushed to the Iloilo Doctors Hospital was Capt. Noel Frias of the AFP EOD unit. Frias suffered third-degree burns in parts of his body.

However, his companions managed to escape the fire, the dzBB report said.

The report said police are verifying information a World War II vintage bomb inside the EOD office exploded and triggered the fire.

Investigation showed the explosion wrecked the ceiling of the EOD office and burned several vehicles.

Responding fire trucks initially could not get near the area because of the explosion.

The fire also spread to other PNP offices including the satellite office of the Firearms and Explosives Office and the Philippine National Police's Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA). — LBG, GMA News