DAVAO, PHILIPPINES – A huge explosion rocked a busy night market in Davao City Friday evening, leaving at least 30 people injured, police said.
The blast prompted an evacuation and forced a nearby university to issue a lockdown.
Davao City police Insp. Katherine Dela Rey told DZMM that at least 30 people were rushed to a nearby hospital following the explosion, which took place at the massage area of the popular night market along Roxas Avenue.
The explosion happened at around 10 p.m., a time when many people flock the long strip of food stalls and flea market shops, added Dela Rey.
Ateneo De Davao University, which is near the night market, has warned its students to avoid the area moments after the incident.
“To all the students and bystanders in the Roxas night market, please stay away from the area and give way to the ambulances and police,” an announcement posted on the university’s official Twitter account read.
Online images show emergency teams rushing people out of the night market in stretchers and wheelchairs. Some of the blast victims were rushed to the Southern Philippines Medical Center.
Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar are already on the site of the incident.
The city government of Davao, in a Facebook post, said the explosion “left a number of people dead and several others wounded.”
It added that Vice Mayor Duterte asked people in the area to go home and bars to close down.