ILIGAN CITY – Two children aged three and four locked inside the house by their parents died in a Christmas Day fire in Tubod town, Lanao del Norte, police said.
Major Salman Saad, spokesperson of the Lanao del Norte police office, said the children’s parents locked them up in the house, in the company of a leashed dog, in hinterland Tanguegueron village as they left for the farm at around 8 a.m. last Friday, Dec. 25.
The fire broke out at around 11:30 a.m., Saad said, citing the accounts of several villagers who rushed to help quell it.
However, the fire quickly gobbled up the house made of light materials.
Saad said the couple Junie Palongpalong and Judelyn Gargoles told police they also saw the fire from their farm and rushed home, only to see it razed to the ground.
They recovered the two children’s charred remains who were hugging each other in the dirty kitchen area.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire. The house had no electricity connection.
Police have also questioned two persons whom villagers said were near the burning house but never attempted to rescue the children.
[ac]