Tuesday, April 03, 2007 Girl, 5, dies, 2 other kids badly burned By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl died while two other children were badly burned when a fire broke out Sunday night in Sitio Bita-ug, Barangay Pob-lacion, Oslob town in southern Cebu.
The charred body of Claudie May Ann Norvico was found by responding firefighters and policemen among the rubble of the destroyed house owned by her grandfather Edilberto Auman.
Her younger sister, 11-month-old Giselle Chara and her aunt Chara Mae Auman, 13, are still at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSM-MC) for third-degree burns.
Candle
A lighted candle or kerosene lamp that fell on a mattress was believed to have caused the fire.
The blaze in the southern town of Oslob happened eight days after the fire in Barangay Cogon Pardo, Cebu City that killed seven members of a Chinese-Filipino family, including five children.
They were all asleep in their rooms when the fire broke out on the first floor, leaving them trapped in the upper floor.
In the Oslob incident, PO2 Eduardo Seno, one of the policemen who investigated the incident, said the fire occurred at 8 p.m. at the second level of the two-story house owned by Edilberto.
There were two families that resided in the house: those of Edil-berto’s and his married daughter Hazel, the mother of Claudie Ann and Giselle Chara.
Sleeping
Edilberto was at the town market while Hazel and her husband Gilbert were also out of the house at the time of the fire.
Edilberto’s wife, Es-trella, was sleeping at the first level and failed to immediately notice the fire.
Estrella, in an interview over radio dyLA, said they have been using either candles or kerosene lamps at night after they had their electrical supply cut off because they could no longer afford to pay the bills.
She suspected that the kerosene lamp, which was placed very near the mattress where Giselle Chara and Chara Mae were sleeping, may have tipped over, triggering the fire.
Estrella said Chara Mae managed to take Giselle Chara out of the house despite the injuries they suffered.
Chara Mae and Giselle Chara suffered burns in their faces, knees, feet and back.
Out of panic, Estrella said they forgot to save Claudie May Ann, who was sleeping in another room.
Estrella appealed to the Provincial Government yesterday for financial assistance. The victims were not able to save any of their belongings during the fire.
The fire engulfed the entire house and also destroyed the neighboring house owned by Clemen-tira Rosaga, 42.
Rosaga and her four children were not hurt in the incident.
Apart from the Oslob fire station, firefighters from the neighboring Boljoon and Santander also helped in putting out the fire.
It was contained 20 minutes later. Damage to property was still being determined. (JST)
