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7 killed in Albay hostage-taking incident


Seven people were killed in a hostage-taking incident that ended in a fire at a lodging house in Daraga town in Albay province before dawn Saturday.
 
While the six hostages died after being trapped in the fire, the hostage-taker was shot dead by police, GMA Bicol's Maila Aycocho reported.
 
The report did not immediately name the hostage-taker but cited initial information describing him as a dispatcher of a transport terminal in Barangay Kimantong in Daraga.
 
Initial investigation showed the incident started at 2:24 a.m., when the dispatcher took three students hostage.
 
Although he released the three, he entered the lodging house and reportedly stabbed a man watching a nearby store, and a policeman who responded to the incident.
 
The suspect then opened a liquefied petroleum gas tank that exploded and triggered the fire. The fire in turn razed the wooden lodging house.
 
The six inside the structure were trapped and died.
 
On the other hand, the suspect was killed after policemen shot him.
 
Relatives of the victims mourned their deaths, saying they could not accept what happened. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News
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