The military is insisting that the grenade explosion was only an accident.
A firing mechanism, believed to be a fragmentation grenade, exploded in the course of an explosive training of the Army Reserve Command in Asinan, Brgy. Buayan in General Santos City on Monday afternoon.
One person died while six others were injured, including their instructor, when the fragmentation grenade went off during the grenade handling demonstration inside the Army Reserve training ground.
According to Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr. Of Police Regional Office (PRO) Region 12, the officials of the Army Reserve Command (ARESCOM) were conducting an explosive training called the Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance Agent (EORA) at 4PM at the 12th Regional Community Defense headquarters when the explosion took place.
Galgo said, “An instructor was holding a grenade demonstrating it in front of trainees when it accidentally went off”.
“Be calm and don’t panic. It’s only an accident explosion”, Galgo added.
Col. Faisal Nawang, Regional Community Defense Group Region 12 commander, also emphasized that the blast was all but an accident.
He reiterated that it was not meant to happen because the grenade suddenly exploded while they were doing the grenade demo.
Supt. Nawang explained that the only purpose of the training was to improve the skills and explosives handling capacity of the reservists to help in the local security forces and to deter criminal elements in any threat to the country’s security.
A certain MSgt. Malansag was unfortunate in the accident after scooping all the impact of the explosive.
Their instructor Tech. Sgt. Soriano lost his arms while five other reservists succumbed minor injuries.
The concerned Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) units are currently conducting an investigation to establish the real score of the alleged accident.
The happening alarmed some of GenSan residents after some reports on threats to the city’s security have made rounds the social media following the Davao blast.
The police had earlier refused to confirm the authenticity of the report.