MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Two people died, one a four-year old boy, when they were trapped inside their burning home in Pasig City early Tuesday morning, fire officials said.
Reports from the Pasig City Fire Station identified the victims as Mary Jo Roxas, 18, and Matthew Magnaye.
The two reportedly died of suffocation when fire broke out from the ground floor of the four-story apartment building owned by a certain Raquel Uy at 121-B Moscow Street, Pasig Greenpark Subdivision, at 7:55 a.m., according to a report by Fire Officer 1 Salvador Norberte.
The fire reached second alarm before it was declared out at 8:45 a.m.
The victims? father, Ronald Magnaye, told investigators that he was on the road at the time, taking his wife, a nursing student, to Medical City in Ortigas.
Magnaye?s three other children were in school at the time, Norberte said.
Arson investigators pegged the total damage at P200,000, noting that only the mid-portion of the ground floor was gutted.
A desk officer at the Pasig Fire Department said the cause of the fire remained under investigation.