Lantaka Death On Cebu

[Hoz]

(sunstar cebu) "LANTAKA, a bazooka-like contraption that has become a fad as a safe noisemaker among kids this holiday season, has claimed the life of a six-year-old boy in the coastal village of Tanke, Talisay City.Yuri Menguito died at a government-run hospital in Cebu City past 3 p.m. last Sunday, barely a day after he was tinkerin...g with the handy enclosed tube owned by his elder brother. Menguito suffered from a seared lung and heart, making him the first lantaka casualty in Talisay or probably in the entire Cebu Province.Tanke Barangay Captain Perla Cabanes said the boy was left unattended by his parents while playing with the homemade cannon outside their house last Saturday morning.The boy

[Jollygoodfellow]

(sunstar cebu) "LANTAKA, a bazooka-like contraption that has become a fad as a safe noisemaker among kids this holiday season, has claimed the life of a six-year-old boy in the coastal village of Tanke, Talisay City.Yuri Menguito died at a government-run hospital in Cebu City past 3 p.m. last Sunday, barely a day after he was tinkerin...g with the handy enclosed tube owned by his elder brother. Menguito suffered from a seared lung and heart, making him the first lantaka casualty in Talisay or probably in the entire Cebu Province.Tanke Barangay Captain Perla Cabanes said the boy was left unattended by his parents while playing with the homemade cannon outside their house last Saturday morning.The boy's elder brother was also not around, as the latter was playing basketball.... See MoreSensing that it did not go off, Menguito reportedly held the lantaka upside down and blew the tip of its meter-long barrel.The lantaka, a modern version of the traditional bamboo cannon, is fired by squirting a few drops of denatured alcohol on the back of its chamber.Denatured alcohol is reportedly ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, unpalatable and undrinkable.This type of alcohol is effective for varnishing, removing paint, among other industrial purposes.The user then shakes off the tube a bit to create a vapor or spread the alcohol's mist and pushes the trigger, producing a deafening blast.The boom can surpass the traditional firecrackers' blast that is commonly heard during the Christmas and New Year's revelries.Cabanes said Menguito was not aware that the triggering device, actually a cigarette lighter attached to the enclosed tube's breech, was already pushed against the ground."So while he was blowing the tip of the Lantaka's barrel, it went off, completely inhaling the blasted spray of fire in the process," said Cabanes.The fire carries with it the poisonous denatured alcohol content.The barangay captain said she learned of the incident when the boy's parents