TWO persons were killed when a fire struck a school building housing an art gallery at a university in Cagayan de Oro City, on Monday, August 7.
Authorities identified the victims as Bryan Solarte and Dave Marvin Ramoga, 27, both residents of Barangay Lapasan in Cagayan de Oro City.
Both were working as construction painters at the Capitol University (CU). They were hired by the school on an on-call basis.
Solarte, sources said, was only a high school student and was working part-time when he has no classes at a public secondary school here. He was Ramoga’s assistant. Solarte’s age has not been determined as of 11:00 p.m., Monday.
According to Dr. Christian Caballes, Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) medico-legal officer, it was highly probable that Solarte and Ramoga died from suffocation first then burned from the fire later.
Caballes said the two suffered from third-degree burns. They were identified from the identification cards found on their wallets. There was no foul play involved, he said.
“They suffocated then lost consciousness,” he said in an interview.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has yet to release an official finding but initial reports point to the cans of paint thinner, a highly flammable chemical, as the cause of fire.
Caballes said it was yet to be verified if the dead workers were smoking cigarettes prior to the fire.
Only one fire truck from the City Fire Department responded to the incident. CU students also used the school’s fire extinguishers to help put out the fire.
Nicolas Aca, the gallery curator at CU’s Museum of Three Cultures, said some paintings at the gallery were damaged due to the fire, which was neutralized after 30 minutes or so.
“They (victims) were doing some renovations at the gallery when the fire happened,” Aca said in a separate interview.
Aca said the artifact exhibits were spared from the fire, but the CU administration has closed the museum to the public until further notice.
He said students were told to go home as classes were suspended on Monday. Classes will resume Tuesday.
A member of the CU security team said they have also closed the building where the museum is located as students left their bags in the classrooms where the fire occurred.
The Museum of Three Cultures is located at the ground floor of a four-story building. Beside it is the school canteen with rows of stalls selling various food items.
Love Joy Presbitero, 24, a store attendant at the canteen, said she heard a loud explosion prior to the fire.
“It (explosion) was so loud that the glass on the door was shattered,” she said, adding that black smoke was coming out from the gallery a few minutes later.
“We were so scared we ran right away. We didn’t bring anything with us,” Presbitero said.
For her part, Ramoga’s live-in partner Shiela Marie Decina, 23, said she could not believe that her live-in partner was dead.
Decina, who’s pregnant for nine months and is due to give birth on the third week of August, said she is dependent on Ramoga for their livelihood.
Decina said she has no idea what will happen to her and her baby now that Ramoga is gone.
Meanwhile, school officials have yet to issue a formal statement regarding the incident.