Friday, December 19, 2008 Elderly woman, child killed in Tawi-Tawi fire By Bong Garcia
AN ELDERLY woman and a child were killed after they were trapped in a blaze that razed to the ground some 300 houses in the province of Taw-Tawi, a top military official disclosed Thursday.
Lt. General Nelson Allaga, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said that the fire started around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Kasanyangan village, Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi.
Allaga said most of the 300 houses that were burned down are houses on stilts, explaining that the incident took place in a coastal area in Bongao.
Allaga said the fire broke out in one of the houses along the roadside area and rapidly spread, eating up the nearby houses on stilts mostly made up of light materials.
"Naiwan sa duyan yong bata (The child was left on his hammock) while the old woman was trapped in one of the houses," Allaga said, based on the report he got from Naval Task Force 62 stationed in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.
He disclosed that the firefighters had a hard time controlling the blaze, which spread easily through houses made of light materials.
He said naval firefighters tried to help but they could not get near the shoreline as their firefighting boat might run aground.
Aside from the houses on stilts, Allaga said an elementary school was also burned down during the incident.
He said the extent of damage has yet to be determined by fire investigators.
He said initial report disclosed that the cause of the incident was faulty electrical wiring. (Bong Garcia)
