Photo from Manila-PIO
Six people were killed while two more were hurt when a fire destroyed around eight houses in Tondo, Manila, on Thursday morning.
Authorities identified the fatalities as Elizabeth Mendoza, 48; Janeth Rosales, 49; Eugenio Pacia, 48; Remedios Pacia, 70; Natalie Nicole Sorbito, 17; and her sister, Shane Bernadette, 16.
Capt. Guillermo Firmalino, investigation chief of the Manila Fire District (MFD), said that they were still waiting for the medico-legal report to find out what killed the victims. According to him, it was possible that the victims, who lived in separate rooms inside the house where the fire started, were still asleep when the blaze broke out.
Based on the MFD report, the fire started at 6:37 a.m. on Tioco corner Tapuris Streets in Barangay 91 Zone 8. It reached the first alarm before it was put out at 7: 52 a.m. Around 20 families were left homeless, the report added.
A witness said he saw smoke coming out of the ground floor of the house. Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the blaze, but Firmalino said they were looking into the possibility of faulty electrical wiring.
“The house was old so the electrical wiring was probably also old,” he told the Inquirer in an interview.
Manila’s first district—which includes Tioco Street—will be placed under a 48-hour “hard lockdown” starting at 5 a.m. Sunday to give way for targeted testing. Residents displaced by the fire will be housed in a covered court in Barangay 91.
They will be allowed to stay there while the lockdown is in effect, said Re Fugoso, chief of the Manila Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The city government will also provide them with hot meals, canned goods and rice.