Four hurt in blast on oil barge in Manila

MANILA, Jan 15 (Reuters) Four people were hurt in an explosion on an empty oil barge docked on Manila's Pasig river early today, a Philippine fire official and the Coast Guard said.

The vessel, which was docked near a Coast Guard outpost in Manila after unloading a cargo of 1.1 million litres of gasoline, exploded at 8:30 a m (0600hrs IST), Manila Fire Marshall Pablito Cordeta told reporters.

''This has nothing to do with terrorism,'' Cordeta told reporters, adding officials were still investigating the cause of the explosion, which was followed by a fire.

The military and police are on alert due to the summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations on Cebu island in the central Philippines.

The Coast Guard said three of those hurt were men hired to clean the tanker and a 36-year old woman who was passing by the area.

REUTERS SY RN1412