2 women die in Tacloban fire

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Two elderly sisters burned to death when a fire razed their house on Real Street here early Tuesday.

The bodies of the victims, Virgie and Edith Martinez, aged 72 and 70, respectively, were found by firefighters charred and locked in an embrace on the ground floor of the two-story house.

Tacloban City Fire Marshall Adel de la Paz Bautista said that they received a call about the fire around 1:05 a.m. from a man who worked at a gasoline station beside the house of the Martinez sisters, both of whom were unmarried.

Firemen arrived at the scene at 1:15 a.m. and declared the fire out at 1:30 a.m.

Bautista said they believed that the sisters were sleeping on the second floor when the fire started and that they tried to escape but were trapped.

“One of them, Edith, was said to be bed-ridden. Perhaps, the elder sister tried to rescue her but failed to do so since the fire had spread, and considering their frail condition,” Bautista said.

Bautista said they were still conducting an investigation to determine how the fire started and were looking at faulty electrical wiring as a possible cause.