A 46-YEAR-OLD old woman was killed and a mosque was destroyed in a fire that struck barangay Poblacion, Lapu-Lapu City.
The fire started at the house of Avelina Cosep Tisoro at 3:35 a.m. yesterday.
Fire investigator F03 Climaco Salisid said the woman, a mother of five, was mentally unstable and refused calls of her nephews to get out of the burning building.
Her charred body was later found in the ruins.
The fire also razed a mosque owned by Muslim Barter Traders, seven houses and three stores selling ukay-ukay(surplus clothing) .
Salisid said Tisoro’s relatives believe the fire was accidentally started by a kerosene lamp which the woman usually placed in a table near her bed and may have been knocked over.
Four of her children live in barangay Gun-ob while another one with the woman’s estranged husband in Negros.
The fire was contained in nine minutes and damaged P750,000 worth of property.
Twelve families were affected, said Elsa Delos Santos, head of City Social Welfare and Development of Lapu-Lapu City.
Fire victims will be given food packs, tents, and P5,000 worth of housing materials per family as standard assistance from the city government including burial assistance for Tisoro’s family./Correspondents Norman V. Mendoza And Jhunnex Napallacan