4-year-old boy dies in Manila predawn fire

A four-year-old boy died in a predawn fire that destroyed 20 houses and rendered some 100 families homeless in Manila’s Sta. Mesa district Saturday. QTV-11 television reported Saturday that the fire started at a two-story house at 1:30 a.m. along Dahlia Street in Village 598 in Sta. Mesa, Manila. “Paglabas ko riyan iniwan ko gamit kong dala. Pumasok kuya ko hindi na mahanap ang anak ko dahil mainit (We fled outside and I realized my son was missing. My elder brother rushed inside to find him but he came out empty-handed because it was already too hot inside)," lamented Maricel Sultan, whose son Rusty was trapped in one of the houses. Firefighters retrieved the boy’s body after more than an hour, even as QTV-11 reported that at least one female resident was injured and was rushed to a nearby hospital. The fire reached the fifth alarm before firefighters could put it out some three hours later. Meanwhile, a 62-year-old resident was killed in a predawn fire that hit a residential area in Zamboanga City Friday, Sun-Star Zamboanga (sunstar.com.ph) reported Saturday. The city social welfare office has started providing emergency relief assistance to the families rendered homeless in the fire that hit the Northside Tetuan district. Investigators, who initially identified the fatality as Leonides Pelayo, who was charred in one of the burned houses, said an electrical short circuit caused the fire. Mayor Celso Lobregat personally rushed to the fire scene and instructed Barredo to give prompt help to the fire victims, including the relatives of Pelayo. The fire gutted two houses at about 4 a.m., and affected two families and at least nine other persons who rented and shared the houses. It was the second blaze Tetuan so far this year. On the other hand, the city government continues to assist families that fled their homes in Sitio Camp Pilar, Upper Curuan due to the presence of armed men Wednesday. Lobregat has mobilized government resources to assist the evacuees who were temporarily housed at the Curuan Elementary School. As of noontime Friday, Barredo said a total of 84 families with 333 dependents were recorded to have evacuated the area. The city has served 65 families with 248 dependents as of 11 a.m. Friday. The victims are temporarily sheltered in three areas: Camp Pilar Elementary School, Purok Gasang, Curuan Presa or Curuan Proper. Armed men said to demand protection money from the residents in Camp Pilar and set ablaze five houses Wednesday triggered the evacuation. They reportedly claimed to be members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Lobregat has directed the police and the military to assess the situation and ensure the restoration of peace and order. He stressed that the victims would only return to their houses if their safety and security were assured.- GMANews.TV