One dies, 3 injured in firecracker explosion in Dagupan
ONE person died and three others injured when a stack of firecrackers exploded inside a house under construction at past 11:35 p.m. on Christmas Day in Sitio Claveria, Barangay Malued in Dagupan City.
Also damaged were 21 houses, seven were totally destroyed. Fifteen houses within the 40 meter radius of the explosion sustained varying degrees of damage.
The police said the explosion was ignited by a flare from a match stick thrown by one person after lighting a cigarette near a pile of pyrotechnics allegedly stacked by a family for New Year revelry on December 31.
The lone fatality was identified as Raymundo Seen Lazaro, 38, a tricycle driver of Barangay Malued, who died on the night of December 26 while he was being treated at the Region 1 Medical Center Annex in Bonuan Binloc
Injured and still under treatment at R1MC Annex are Rogelio Zamora Solomon, 48, also of Barangay Malued; one Jacqueline Velasco, 49, and Roan Velasco, 44, both of Caranglaaan, Dagupan City.
A report relayed to The PUNCH by Mayor Belen Fernandez stated that a child, whose name was not immediately known, was injured by flying glass shards caused by the explosion.
Dagupan City Police’s initial investigation showed the explosion occurred inside a room of a house under construction owned by Vilma Solomon, 51, currently living in Canada, the elder sister of injured Rogelio Solomon.
The stacked firecrackers exploded when one of the victims allegedly lit a cigarette during a drinking spree near the room. The firecrackers were intentionally stored in the room for the upcoming New Year’s Eve revelry, following a year-end tradition by the Solomon family.
The Solomon family admitted they stacked firecrackers for the family to light for the New Year revelry on December 31.
Mayor Belen Fernandez, who rushed to the scene of the incident, directed Dagupan City Police chief P/Lt. Colonel Brendon Palisoc and Dagupan Fire Station’s Deputy Chief Michael Escano to file appropriate charges against the owners of the firecrackers.
As this developed, Fernandez also called the attention of barangay captains to confiscate all firecrackers and report to the police any underground firecracker factory in their areas.
She called on Dagupenos to use alternative sound-producing instruments other than firecrackers in welcoming the New Year
Dagupan is a pilot area in Region 1 under the government’s ‘Iwas Paputok Program’ (Butch Uka)
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