Fire in ‘abandoned’ 1965 apartment kills 6

The charred remains of two pregnant mothers and their children, four in all, were recovered from the debris of a fire that raged for more than three hours in a time-worn apartment building dating back to the 1960s and occupied by informal settlers in Parañaque City late Wednesday.

Authorities identified the victims as Marie Joy De Jesus, 26, and her sons Jomari, 6, and Daniel Luis, 10; and Ana Donna Agrasada, 26, and her children Jake, 6, and Angelo, 3. At least 55 families were displaced by the fire that gutted the three-story Y.K. Apartment on Quirino Avenue, Barangay Tambo.

Also known to locals as “Bahay na Bato,” the apartment had been occupied by up to 400 families since it was abandoned by the owners nearly three decades ago.

The victims occupied rooms on the second floor but their bodies found by firefighters on the ground floor, possibly after the floor above collapsed, said Senior Insp. Wilson Tana, Parañaque’s chief arson investigator.

Both women were about three months pregnant, according to a resident, Miriam Butial, 40, who said she had been living at Bahay na Bato for 16 years. Gilberto Butial, who heads the residents’ association, said two-thirds of the families were not affected by the fire and had chosen not to move out.  — Matthew Reysio-Cruz