By DPA
Manila : Philippine police Tuesday said the explosion in an upscale mall that killed 11 people and wounded more than 100 was most likely an accident and not caused by a bomb.
Police Director Geary Barias, chief of police forces in Manila, said the blast at the Glorietta shopping centre in the financial district of Makati City last Friday might have been triggered by gas build-up from the mall’s basement.
Barias said anti-bomb experts have finished their post-blast investigation and did not find any traces of an improvised explosive device component or a crater that would indicate a bomb explosion.
“What I can say is it’s very difficult to support the theory of bombing in the absence of the two critical things,” he said.
Barias added that the physical effects of the incident support the gas explosion theory, particularly the upward direction of the blast.
Investigators noted that the basement of the mall, where the blast originated, contained a generator set, a tank of bunker fuel and empty drums of diesel. The mall’s septic tank was also in the basement.
“The petrochemical experts also examined the layout of the fuel tank and their finding is that it did not follow the standard cylindrical structure that would cause an even distribution of the pressure,” Barias said. “The tank is rectangular and that might have contributed to the explosion.”
Police chemists had said Saturday they found traces of RDX — the main component of C-4 explosives — at the blast site. But Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the presence of the chemical in the site does not indicate a bomb since RDX has commercial uses.
Opposition legislators have alleged the government orchestrated a bomb attack on Glorietta in a bid to divert public attention from a bribery and corruption scandal facing the Arroyo government.
Religious leaders have called for the creation of an independent body to probe the Glorietta blast.