Man, 3 kids dead in Maguindanao fire
COTABATO CITY – A father and his three children died in a fire that razed at least five houses in Sultan Kudarat town, Maguindanao province, early morning Tuesday, police said.
Daemus Araneta and his children Vina, Dagul and Mujahid, all elementary school pupils, died when their house was struck by fire at 2 a.m., said Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, regional police director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Araneta’s wife is working in the Middle East as a domestic helper.
Police said investigators from the Bureau of Fire Protection had yet to establish what caused the blaze.
The Sultan Kudarat government, through Mayor Shameen Mastura, had extended emergency assistance to families who lost their homes to the fire.