OZAMIS, Philippines -- At least 32 people, including children, were killed and 38 wounded on Friday when bombs exploded in one of the buses on an inter-island ferry in the southern Philippines, officials said.
"They were time-bombs," Ozamis mayor Benjamin Fuentez told Reuters by phone when asked about the cause of the explosion.The blasts sparked a fire on the 201-ton ferry Lady Mediatrix and were so strong they ripped the ceiling of the bus, hurling some of the passengers away. Panic broke out among the passengers, some of whom jumped into the water.
Police said the bombs were apparently planted in the luggage of the bus passengers and might have been timed to explode while the ferry was on its way to Ozamis port from the coastal town of Kolambugan.
The bombs exploded within a minute of each other as the ferry was about to dock at Ozamis on Mindanao island, 490 miles south of Manila.
Investigators were still looking into the motive, but Army chief General Narciso Abaya suspected extortionists were behind the bombing.