Saturday, September 22, 2007 Woman, 49, dies in fire; widower drowns
A WOMAN died after she was trapped in a fire that ate up a four-door apartment in Barangay Lower Calajoan, Mingla-nilla town in southern Cebu.
Ethelinda Reina, 49, did not know that her apartment was on fire until she returned home and saw it filled with smoke about 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
She went out to buy something from a neighborhood store when she returned to see the apartment in flames.
She dashed inside the apartment to try and salvage some of her belongings, against the wishes of her husband Boyet and son Lloyd.
Ethelinda failed to come out. Firefighters found her on the floor of her bedroom in a fetal position.
She was not burned, which was why they rushed her to the Minglanilla District Hospital.
However, she was declared dead on arrival.
Tires
The first floor of the apartment was stocked with tires, making it hard for firefighters to enter the building because of the thick, black smoke.
Damage was placed at P80,000. The fire was controlled in 15 minutes.
Initially, fire investigators are looking into an overheated electric fan as the cause of the blaze.
Minglanilla Police Chief Romeo Santander said the building is owned by retired colonel Eriberto Paran.
Also around 1 a.m. yesterday, the outpatient laboratory of the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital caught fire.
However, it was contained immediately.
Patients scrambled out of the hospital as it began to fill with smoke. Investigators believe it started in the lab’s oven.
In Dumanjug town, a widower still holding his nightstick and a senior citizen identification card hanging around his neck was found in the river separating Barangays Ilaya and Tapon at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Anatolio “Tuling” Ange-lio, 80, was last seen by a neighbor walking towards Barangay Pacolob last Tuesday. He did not return home. (MEA)
