A bottle of disinfectant alcohol exploded inside a car in Cainta, Rizal due to extreme heat.
Joyce Ann Canlas, whose boyfriend owned the car, said that her partner left a 500 ml bottle of alcohol inside the vehicle, which was parked near a warehouse.
She wrote in a viral post that the explosion destroyed the vehicle, shattering its windows and damaging its seats and roof.
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“You can tell that the alcohol caused it because the alcohol bottle was destroyed. I was thankful because if I were there, something could have happened to me because I would never think that alcohol could explode,” she told the news program 24 Oras in English and Filipino.
The Bureau of Fire Protection confirmed that the explosion was indeed caused by the alcohol, which they said is highly flammable.
Manolito Ybanez, a forensic chemist of the agency, said that alcohol is “a chemical or substance which has a high flashpoint. This means that it easily releases fumes or vapor that can increase the pressure inside a container. When the temperature increases, this may result in an explosion.”
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration warned the public not to store alcohol inside cars.
Director-General Eric Domingo said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo that alcohol is “flammable. It could spark and explode.”
Disinfectant alcohol has become a necessity for millions of Filipinos due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the early months of the lockdown, some people even hoarded them, prompting a few local governments to issue anti-panic buying ordinances.
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