Fail: Manila police try to defuse artillery round with wrench and acetylene torch

Yes. The expected result occurred. Four people were killed.

 AN artillery round has accidentally exploded while a welder and police commandos tinkered with it with an acetylene torch, killing four people, including two policemen, in the Philippine capital.

Ten other people, including another policeman, was wounded in yesterday's powerful blast in an ironworks shop in suburban Taguig city in the capital where the policemen brought the explosive apparently to have it defused and opened, police Senior Superintendent Tomas Apolinario Jr said.

Investigators were trying to determine where the policemen got the artillery round and why they brought it to an ironworks shop outside a police camp in Taguig instead of handing it to ordnance experts, who can safely defuse it, said Apolinario, who heads the Taguig police force.

"There was a procedural lapse in the way they handled this artillery round," Apolinario said.

The sprawling police camp in Taguig, southeast of Manila, used to have a depot for unexploded munitions and vintage bombs but a huge, accidental explosion at the site forced authorities to close it years ago.

Apolinario said the policemen failed to defuse and open the artillery round with a wrench, prompting them to bring it to a welder.