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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/01 August) – Police recovered Tuesday a huge vintage bomb in a remote village in Polomolok town in South Cotabato.
Senior Insp. Ramil Villagracia, Polomolok deputy police chief, said Wednesday the World War II-type explosive was found buried within a residential area in Purok Malipayon in Barangay Upper Klinan.
He said the bomb, which weighed around 750 kilograms, was already covered with rust but was considered “still active” by explosives experts. It measured at three feet and nine inches in diameter and four feet and seven inches long. Villagracia said the explosive was discovered by a local resident Rudy Estrebella while he was digging up a vacant area near his house.
“He noticed that there was something metallic buried there so he immediately notified their barangay officials, who later called up the police station,” he said. ‘
The official said they later retrieved the explosive from the area through assistance from the explosive ordnance disposal team of the Army’s 72nd Infantry Battalion (IB). He said the recovered explosive is presently in the custody of the 72nd IB for safekeeping.
In September last year, residents of Upper Klinan recovered a massive vintage bomb in a vacant field in the area. The explosive, which weighed around 1,000 pounds, was found after the soil covering it was washed up by the rains.
In late May, police anti-bomb personnel also retrieved vintage bomb buried near a school in Barangay Saravia in Koronadal City. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
