Couple dead, 21 houses destroyed in Cebu fire

CEBU CITY—A couple was killed in a fire that destroyed 21 houses on A. Lopez Street, Barangay (village) Labangon, early Wednesday.

Edgardo Miego, 60, and his wife Margarita 57, were trapped inside their house when the fire broke out at 1:27 a.m. in Sitio Santo Niño, Labangon.

The couple’s daughter, Jolly Dionson, her husband Dante and their five-year-old daughter were able to escape from the burning house through a fire exit at the balcony, said Labangon barangay captain Victor Buendia.

Buendia said the fire broke out at the living room, near the room where Edgardo and Margarita were sleeping.

Their daughter’s family was sleeping inside a room on the second floor.

Buendia said Jolly told him that she woke up when her daughter asked for milk.

When she went out of the room, she was greeted by thick smoke from the ground floor. She immediately woke her husband who carried their daughter.

But the ground floor had been engulfed by flames, prompting Jolly and her family to run to the balcony which had a fire exit.

Buendia said Jolly and her husband asked rescuers to get her parents who were still trapped inside their room on the ground floor.

But Buendia said rescuers could no longer get inside the house since the fire had already spread on the ground floor.

The fire also destroyed 20 other houses in the neighborhood, said Fire Officer 3 Antonio Gonzales of the Cebu City Fire Department.

Buendia said Edgardo is a retired employee of San Miguel Corp. who has been paralyzed following a stroke. Margarita was a real estate broker.