Red Cross reports 5 dead, 78 injured in Glorietta 2 blast

The Philippine National Red Cross on Friday reported that at least five people were killed and 78 others injured in a powerful blast that rocked a crowded Glorietta 2 mall in Makati. Sen. Richard Gordon, also the PNRC chairman, told a cable news television that 46 people were rushed to the Makati Medical Center and the Ospital ng Makati listed 32 blast victims, one of them critically injured as of 3:30 p.m. Alfie Reyes, spokesman for the Ayala Land that owns the mall, told the same cable news station that initial investigation showed that the blast occurred from one of the retail spaces on the first floor and not from the Luk Yuen restaurant. The explosion caused extensive damage throughout the Glorietta 2 shopping complex, toppling roofs, destroying walls and sending debris crashing onto cars outside. Witnesses told radio stations they saw bloodied people being helped out and carried away in ambulances. Metropolitan Manila police chief Geary Barias said an initial report suggested the blast was caused by a cooking gas tank in a mall restaurant. However, hours later, he clarified the explosion was not inside the restaurant but at the entrance of the mall and police were investigating the cause. ''It's too early to say if it's terrorism related,'' Barias said. Al-Qaeda-linked militants, who have waged a yearlong bloody bombing campaign in Mindanao, have targeted Manila before. In 2004, Abu Sayyaf militants, notorious for kidnappings and beheadings, blew up a passenger ferry in Manila Bay, killing 116 people in the country's worst terrorist attack. People inside the mall scampered toward the exits when the blast shook the mall. ''One man who was in front of me was already dead. There was a child but we don't know where the child is now,'' said witness Dennis Iñigo, who was shopping at the time of the explosion. ''The man's wife was with me a while ago, and her leg was shattered. Many people were falling on top of each other,'' he said. ''It was loud, and then it became dusty.'' - GMANews.TV