Bocaue -- Philippines
Philippines braces for bloody New Year's

-- Eve revelry Powerful firecrackers ignited a fire that killed seven people Friday, giving urgency to government warnings against celebratory fireworks and gunfire that maim and kill hundreds of Philippine revelers each New Year's Eve.

Dozens of houses and stores were destroyed in the blaze that struck Bocaue, a firecracker-producing town in Bulacan province north of Manila. More than 150 people have been injured by firecracker blasts in recent days across the country, officials said.

The number of accidents was expected to increase considerably as midnight approached, said Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, who urged the public "not to compromise safety with a moment's joy."

He led an inspection of hospital emergency rooms to ensure they were adequately manned and equipped for the expected deluge of burn and stray bullet victims.

Bocaue Mayor Serafin dela Cruz said the fire started early Friday when a man lit a firecracker that flew into the air and then hit a stack of powerful fireworks in a store, triggering the inferno. Seven were killed and six others injured.

Firefighters struggled to control the blaze, which raged for nearly three hours, while dodging exploding firecrackers around them.

Josefino Vicente, 58, wept as he recounted how he rescued two of his children, but failed to save an 18-year-old son.

"I already got a hold of his arm and I was trying to pull him out, but I lost his grip," Vicente said, adding the intense heat forced him out. "I wanted to run back in but it was impossible to do that minutes later."

Authorities have threatened to arrest people who explode powerful firecrackers and fire their guns to ring in the New Year. Health officials have also distributed thousands of posters showing a man whose right hand was blown off by firecrackers last year as a warning.

"We have to scare people because we can't do anything else," said health official Angelita Sebial, adding that authorities plan to broadcast footage next year of people moaning in pain while getting emergency treatment for firecracker injuries.

Last year, 18 people perished in a firecracker-ignited blaze that razed a public market, and nearly 600 were injured by firecracker blasts all over the country.

Superstitious Filipinos believe the noisy celebrations, largely influenced by China's tradition of welcoming a new year, drive away evil and misfortune.

 

Bocaue
8 killed in fireworks store blast

Only hours before thousands of customers were expected to buy fireworks, tragedy struck this town anew at dawn Friday as a blast hit a fireworks store and set off a series of explosions that killed at least eight people and destroyed some P20 million in property.

The fire occurred after 10 pyrotechnics stalls were also razed on Thursday night in Baliuag town, which almost gutted the public market.

Supt. Ferdinando Sevilla, head of the Provincial Investigation and Intelligence Branch of the provincial police office, said the explosion was so loud that it woke up the whole town and turned the place into a burning inferno for more than an hour.

In his report to Bulacan police director, Senior Supt. Michael Benedict Fokno, Sevilla identified the fatalities as brothers Howard, 12, Mark Kevin, 9, Marcial 3rd, 11, and sister Maryjane Jocoy, 15, all of Barangay Turo this town.

Other fatalities were Dindo Vicente, 18, Shervin Alabastro, 13 and Ariston Nicolas 13, also of said barangay and one person still unidentified at press time. Alabastro and Nicolas’ bodies were found embracing each other.

Police said an undetermined number of injured persons were taken to different hospitals around the province, while at lest four cars and other private vehicles parked on the Santa Maria-Bocaue road were burned.

In his report to Central Luzon Regional Police Director Rowland Albano, Fokno said that the explosion started at King Kenneth Fireworks store managed by Marcial Jocoy Sr. at Barangay Turo. The store is owned by Elenita Puno.

Investigation disclosed that an unidentified teenage-buyer tested a bombshell that exploded inside a store and caused a series of explosions gutting at least 20 stores.

In a telephone interview, Celso Cruz, chair of the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers’ Association Inc., said that such a tragedy could have been prevented had stall owners attended the dealers’ safety seminars.

“We always insist in our seminars that there should be no testing of pyrotechnics products within the store area and that proper stocking procedure be followed along with packaging in cartons,” Cruz said.

He also added that besides the strict “no-testing” policy for pyrotechnics products, big fireworks are not supposed to be sold to just any private individual.

“Only fireworks display professionals and technicians are suppose to buy bombshells because that is not a simple fireworks,” he said.

However, the association policies were ignored by many stall owners and other private individuals who are trying to eke out a living by selling pyrotechnics including illegally manufactured to anybody.

Cruz also reiterated his call for the police to carry out policies that include mandatory attendance to dealers’ safety seminars before giving licensed to the applicants.

Earlier, at least 10 pyrotechnics stalls were gutted in Baliuag on Thursday night when a drunk-customer tested a kwitis that landed on one of the pyrotechnics filled table.

Police estimated the damages to about P120,000.

The explosion caused a “minifireworks display” that scared the townspeople as it almost gutted the nearby public market.

Residents noticed that had it not been for the big tarpaulin poster of the mayor, the stalls in front of the public market could have been also burned.

 

At least 11 killed, 600 injured
in New Year's revelry in Philippines

At least 11 people were killed and nearly 600 injured as Filipinos welcomed 2005 with daredevil revelry, but there were fewer firecracker blasts and less celebratory gunfire than in the past, officials said Saturday.

More people converged Friday night to watch official firework displays organized in three areas of Manila's tourist and financial districts to discourage rowdier celebrations. And there was less sparkle and gray smoke from exploding firecrackers in the capital's sky.

But those who lit powerful firecrackers and defied a ban on the celebratory firing of guns were as careless as in the past, despite a government campaign against dangerous celebrations that have often made the city's alleys resemble smoke-shrouded war zones on New Year's Eve.

"We sympathize with the victims, but we hope more and more people will be more cautious," police spokesman Senior Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil said. "Let's not learn it through the hard way. There is no need to lose a hand to learn one's lesson."

Of the 11 deaths monitored by police in the two weeks that ended Saturday, seven were caused by a firecracker-ignited fire, three by stray bullets and one by a firecracker blast, Bataoil said. He said 547 people were injured by firecrackers and 30 by stray bullets. Fireworks ignited 22 fires across the country during the period.

Among the dead were seven trapped early Friday in houses set alight when a man set off a firecracker that hit and ignited a stack of pyrotechnics. Firefighters struggled to control the blaze, which burned for nearly three hours, while dodging exploding firecrackers in Bocaue, a firecracker-producing town north of Manila.

A South Korean man was killed in a separate incident in the capital, when a firecracker he was lighting accidentally exploded near his face, police said.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said doctors amputated the hands of 27 people severely injured by firecrackers. Many of those injured were children or drunk men, he said.

Health officials have tried to scare potentially rowdy revelers with color posters of a man whose right hand was blown off by an oversized firecracker last year and TV ads in which he explained the dangers of firecrackers.

Superstitious Filipinos believe the noisy celebrations, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, drive away evil and misfortune.

Some show off with stunts   like holding lighted firecrackers in their hands  because of drunkenness or simply to have fun.