LAOAG CITY, July 26 — A college student was killed and four others were hurt when a hand grenade exploded inside a rented building in barangay Manayon in Bangui town on Monday afternoon.
Police Insp. Lauro Milan said the victims were huddled for a drinking session around 1 p.m. Monday on a porch in their rented building when one of them brought out a grenade.
Killed was Billy Joel Vidad, 20, while his classmates identified as Herbert Udong, 19, Joemar Macalandong, 19, Marites DAlija, 17 and Joyleen Lorenzo, 17 sustained shrapnel wounds.
Milan said Vidad appeared to have been holding the grenade when it exploded.
“He may have been playing with the safety pin which caused it to explode,” he said.
He said investigators have yet to establish where the grenade came from and how Vidad could have gotten hold of the explosive.
The victims were separately taken to the Bangui District Hospital and to the Gov. Roque Ablan Sr. Memorial Hospital in this city.
Milan said investigators were still on the scene collecting evidence and establishing facts behind the incident.
The victims were all students of the Technical Skills Development Authority vocational school in Bangui town.
The victims’ rented building is near a detachment office of the PNP Regional Mobile Group. (ANL/CCA-PIA 1 Ilocos Norte)
