3 siblings killed in Caloocan fire

A 30-minute fire killed three children who were trapped inside their burning house in Caloocan City on Wednesday morning. The bodies of Janine Gatos, 9; and her siblings John, 6 and Joshua Gatos, 3 were found on the second of the house made of light materials in Block 2, Sawata, Maypajo. When the fire broke out, their father was out, driving his pedicab and looking for passengers. The Caloocan Fire Department’s initial report claimed that the children apparently managed to get away from the source of the fire which started on the right side of the house. Their bodies were found on the left side where they apparently died of suffocation before they could get out of the burning structure. The blaze was reported to the fire department around 6:30 a.m. and put out around 7 a.m., preventing it from spreading to the ground floor. Sawata is a densely populated area with many houses made of light materials. Around P20,000 worth of property was lost in the fire while the cause was still being determined by arson investigators. Nathaniel R. Melican