Factory fire claims second death

Another victim of the fire that razed a building of a Japanese-owned factory in General Trias town 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 Divine Grace Medical Center in the town.

Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla said Sargento died of infection and pneumonia more than a week after a massive fire hit House Technologies Inc. on Feb. 1.

Sargento was the second fatality from the fire after Jerome Sismaet, 34, died on Feb. 5.

Remulla said 126 people were injured in what officials described as the “worst” fire inside the Cavite Economic Zone.

Around 20 people, most of them suffering from severe burns, remain in hospitals in Cavite and Metro Manila.

Remulla said fire and forensic investigators were almost done searching the factory ruins.

He said investigators were “99 percent sure” there was no one left or trapped inside the building. —MARICAR CINCO