3 killed in 6th fire in Cebu City this month

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Three persons, including a five-year-old boy, were killed while three others were hurt in a fire that swept through a residential area in  Cebu City’s Pardo district on Saturday.

The mid-morning fire in  Pardo’s Upper Lusimba section displaced at least 40 families as the blaze destroyed 22 houses and damaged three others.

It was the sixth fire in Cebu in March, which has been declared Fire Prevention Month.

The fatalities were identified Esperanza Aberyon, 75; Rosalie Tagacanao, 35; and her nephew,  Raphael Dulalia, 5.

Fire investigator Omar Segovia said Aberyon was tending her store near her house when it got engulfed in flames. The woman had managed to get out of the structure but went back in believing her grandson was inside.

“She wanted to save the boy but it turned out that the boy was not inside the store,”  Segovia said.

He said neighbors saw the old woman struggling to get out but she was overcome by smoke and collapsed on the floor.

Her house was spared by the flames.

The three injured who were taken to the hospital for treatment of burns were identified as Justo Tagacanao, 65,  and the elder brothers of  Dulalia—Raymond Wayne, 7, and Ralph Laurence, 11. Justo Tagacanao is the grandfather of the Dulalia children.

Cebu City fire Marshall Senior  Superintendent Aderson Comar said the fire may have started in the house of the Tagacanao family but this still had to be confirmed.

The cause of fire had also yet to be determined. Segovia said the authorities had yet to talk to Justo Tagacanao and the Dulalia brothers because they were still in a state of shock.