Fire kills retired teacher in Santiago City

SANTIAGO CITY –– A 67-year-old retired college professor died in a fire that gutted her home here on Sunday, April 25, authorities said.

In a belated report on Tuesday, fire investigators Nelda Tubay had been living alone in the ancestral house in Barangay Calaocan.

Senior Fire Officer 2 William Peralta, investigator at the Bureau of Fire Protection-Santiago City, said Tubay could have dropped her kerosene lamp while asleep, which could have caused the blaze.

Tubay, who used to teach at the La Salette University, had lived without electricity in the past four years, her relatives said.

Her niece, Mariel Tubay, said they had been prodding her to stay with a brother in Quirino province, but the victim repeatedly refused.

LZB