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Monday, January 08, 2007
Five children left in locked shanty die in fire
MANILA -- A fire swept through a shantytown in early Sunday, killing five children whose parents had allegedly locked them in a room before going to a market, the city's fire chief said.
Another sibling was injured in the three-hour fire in Valenzuela City, believed to have started when a candle either fell over or ignited one of the shanty's wooden walls, Fire Chief Inspector Agapito Nacario said.
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The blaze destroyed 97 shanties and left more than 500 people homeless, he said.
"The children were yelling for help. They were helpless but their neighbors may have been panicking to save belongings," Nacario said of the five who perished in the fire.
A 12-year-old sibling managed to break open a window and jumped out of the shanty's loft, surviving with light injuries. The other children, age 3 to 10, may have been too frightened to jump out, Nacario told The Associated Press by telephone.
The children's poor parents, who often go to market early to buy supplies that they peddle during the day, allegedly locked the shanty's door from the outside as a safeguard against thieves. The shanty had no electricity and was lit by a candle, he said.
TV footage showed the stunned parents calling out the names of their children and weeping outside the ruins of their home after the blaze was extinguished. A neighbor berated the parents for locking the shanty's door, but the father denied that they did.
Nacario said he will file criminal charges against the parents, citing a law that prohibits parents from leaving children unattended in a locked house.
Firemen were unable to control the fire quickly because many of the shantytown's residents had blocked its narrow alleyways with their belongings, Nacario said.
"Some tried to grab the water hose from my firefighters in a desperate attempt to save their houses," he said.
Accidental fires are common in shanty colonies in the Philippine capital, causing deaths, injuries and more misery among impoverished residents each year. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (January 8, 2007 issue)
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