Elderly couple trapped, charred in Lapu-Lapu fire

CEBU, Philippines - A fire believed to have erupted from spontaneous combustion killed an elderly couple in Lapulapu City who apparently failed to escape from their burning house.

The charred remains of Paulo and Eugenia Patalinghug, aged 65 and 72, respectively, were found by firefighters among the debris inside the gutted two-story house mostly made of concrete in barangay Pajo.

Fire Officer Hadji Samonte of Lapu-Lapu City Fire Station said the fire lasted for about an hour although it took firefighters only a few minutes to place it under control.

Aside from the city fire department, units from the Philippine Air Force at the nearby Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base and the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation also responded to the alarm.

Damage was pegged by investigators at P150,000, including that of an adjacent house which sustained some damage.

Another fire officer, Julius Gujar, found burnt rugs in the basement that smelled of gasoline, prompting Samonte to suggest the fire may have started from spontaneous combustion.

Samonte said maybe the couple did some cleaning using rugs soaked in gasoline and did not dispose of the materials properly.

He suggested that in the course of the day, high temperatures in the basement caused the gasoline-soaked rugs to ignite by themselves.

Samonte said Paulo and Eugenia were probably asleep on the second floor of the house and when Paulo discovered the fire in the basement, he went down to put it out but was overwhelmed by the smoke and got trapped.

Eugenia probably woke up too late and was suffocated by the smoke.

Witnesses said the victims managed to cry out for help but rescuers were rendered helpless by the flames. Even the couple’s children living just a few meters at the back of the burning house heard the screams for help but were unable to do anything. — /JST   (FREEMAN NEWS)