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Explosives experts believe that the ignition of
methane gas trapped in the basement of an upscale mall may have
caused the explosion that killed 11 people and brought down a wing
of the shopping complex at the heart of Makati’s business
district.
A computer-generated image
presented by police showed that a 3500-liter diesel tank at the
basement of Glorietta 2 was punctured around the midsection, a type
of damage consistent with that of a gas explosion.
Police Senior Supt. Luiso Ticman,
who oversees the investigation, says they have not ruled out the
possibility that the blast was caused by a bomb and they have not
recovered any evidence that would suggest that it was.
But metallurgical and
petrochemical experts have been called in anyway to see if they
would agree with police initial conclusions the explosion was caused
by methane, an odorless yet volatile gas.
Explosives expert Pennimore
Jauican said the physical attributes of the site of the explosion
suggest that it was caused by gas. He notes that the metal tank used
as a diesel bunker was blown open from inside out, suggesting that
the blast originated from inside.
Jauican and his team even went
inside the bunker, which still contains about a foot high of diesel.
He says that what they saw inside made them suspect even more that
it was a gas explosion.
Investigations on the explosion
Friday that injured over 100 shoppers indicate that it originated
from the basement of Glorietta 2 mall. The floor plan of the
building showed that the basement contained a large rectangular
diesel tank, generator set and a septic tank.
Post-blast investigations showed
that the sides of the diesel tank were bent to a concave shape while
the cement walls were pushed out to a 45-degree angle.
Jauican says that had the
explosion been caused by a high explosive then the tank would have
sustained more damage and the cement walls of the basement
pulverized.
A week previously, liquids from
the septic tank seeped into the basement, which a tenant is leasing.
This was what construction workers were busy on days prior to the
blast. Management tried to remedy this by placing a portable,
submersible pump intended to drain water from the area. Another
explosives expert, whose team was the first to enter the seat of the
explosion, says that they have not fully cleared the basement of
flooding and the water is mixing with human waste, probably from the
septic tank.
Jauican and his team are looking
into the theory that a sparks from a short-circuit in the pump might
have ignited the methane gas that has collected in the area, and
seeped into the diesel tank. Methane gas is produced from the
breakdown of the organic compounds in the overflow that had
collected in the basement.
Another indication that the
explosion did not originate from a bomb is because the bodies of the
dead recovered from the scene were, thankfully, not mutilated.
An NBI expert, Romeo Contingio,
says that there were no burns on the bodies of those killed in the
tragedy. The bodies would have contained much more physical trauma
if they were killed in a bomb blast.
The police prudence in
determining the cause of the blast could be a result of initial
findings from the crime laboratory showed the presence of the
chemical RDX, a component of the plastic explosive C4, commonly used
by the military.
Police chief Avelino Razon said
their experts are now conducting tests to determine if the
combustion or combination of methane and diesel and other chemicals
and gases found in the basement could produce RDX.
The PNP’s carefulness and
insistence on investigating the blast in an unemotional and
scientific manner is laudable. The explosion was a tragedy whatever
way you look at it. It serves no one any good if we jump right in
into conclusions that we cannot prove.
Understandably, there are people
who would be reluctant to believe that such a catastrophe was caused
by an accident. I do not know what would be worse: if it was an
attack or if it was an accident.
Eleven lives were lost. Over 100
others were injured. Hundreds others were disrupted. I am talking
here about the employees of the shops that had to close down because
of the blast.
You can fix a building. A
business can survive if one branch closes. It’s more difficult to
survive the trauma of a disaster. Even if it was caused by an
accident.
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