SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna—Another victim of the fire that razed a building of the Japanese-owned factory House Technologies Inc. (HTI) in General Trias city in Cavite province died in a hospital on Thursday, a provincial government official said Friday.
Richard Sargento, 33, died at 2:15 p.m. while being treated at the Divine Grace Medical Center in the town.
Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla, in a telephone interview, said Sargento died of infection and pneumonia.
Sargento was the second fatality from the big fire after line operator Jerome Sismaet, 34, died on Sunday.
READ: Cavite factory fire victim dies in hospital
Remulla said 126 people were hurt in the fire that hit the House Technologies Inc. (HTI) on Feb. 1. Officials described the blaze as the “worst” incident in the Cavite Economic Zone.
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Around 20 people, most of them suffering from severe burns, remained in hospitals in Cavite and Metro Manila, local officials said.
Remulla said fire and forensic investigators were almost done searching the six-hectare ruins of the factory that manufactured pre-fabricated houses for export to Japan.
He said local officials and investigators were “99 percent sure” there was no one left or trapped inside the building./rga