4-year-old girl killed in Cebu City fire

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CEBU CITY, Philippines — A four-year-old girl was killed in a fire at past 12 noon on Monday in Bayabas Extension, Barangay (village) Punta Princesa, this city.

The victim, Stella Jane Romero was at the mezzanine area of the house owned by her aunt Virgilia Ceballos when the fire broke out at 12:45 p.m. on Monday.

Fire Officer 3 Emiliano Daño, a Cebu City fire investigator, said Stella Jane was with her elder brother Raven, 5, at the mezzanine area of the house.

Their father Mike was fixing his motorcycle while the mother was attending a wake in an unspecified location when the house caught fire.

Daño said Mike noticed the fire too late, making it impossible to save his daughter.  “The father tried to rescue (his daughter) but the fire had spread,” Daño.

He said the father only found Raven crying but without Stella Jane.

George Herbella, the victim’s uncle, told reporters that he first noticed a thick smoke coming from the room beside where Ellen Jean was.

Herbella added that he tried to save his niece but the fire had spread and he could no longer go inside the room.

Daño said Police Officer 3 Renato Noval of the Mobile Patrol Group checked the house’s mezzanine area where he recovered the body of the girl, which was severely burned.

Noval still brought the body of the girl to the Cebu City Medical Center but she was already dead.

Daño said they were still trying to determine the cause of the fire because the boy was in a state of shock and would not speak.

But he said the fire started at the mezzanine area.

The fire also damaged the nearby house of Edito Biteto. The damage was pegged at P50,000.