'Blast could have leveled town'

'Blast could have leveled town'

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Zamboanga could be devastated if all the southern city's ammunition dumps exploded, officials told an investigation yesterday into blasts last week that killed a 12-year old boy and injured 33 people.

Capt. Florentino Mariano told a city council meeting that if all seven ammunition bunkers in Zamboanga had exploded, two villages would have sunk into the sea and up to 40 percent of Zamboanga would have been damaged.

Four powerful blasts rocked Malagutay village where the ammunition dumps were located on June 20. The explosions destroyed 40 houses and shattered windows in homes seven kilometers (4.5 miles) away.

Southern command military chief Lt. Gen. Edgardo Batenga's estimate was more conservative. "Our estimate is that (everything) within a 1.5-kilometer will be heavily damaged," if all the ammunition had exploded, he said.

Zamboanga, 820 kilometers south of Manila, is one of the Philippines' main cities, and is home to more than 400,000 people.