Malabon fire: 2 die; 5 injured

Fire razed hundreds of squatter shanties in Barangay Tonsuya in Malabon early yesterday, killing two people and displacing about 5,000 residents.

Two children remained missing and five people were injured in the blaze as more than 1,000 shanties in the so-called Paradaise Village went up in smoke.

Armando Balatbat, spokesman for Malabon Mayor Amado Vicencio, told reporters the fire started before midnight Saturday and raged for over seven hours.

Balatbat said fire fighters were unable to reach many areas in the maze of ramshackle huts because of narrow alleys and the pitch darkness.

Last Saturday, many homes were lit by candles or lamps because of a blackout in Metro Manila and most areas in Luzon as a result of overloaded transmission lines of the state-run National Power Corp.

Authorities identified the fatalities as Catalina Borcilla, 49, married, of Paradaise Village in Barangay Tonsuya, and Jeffrey Agustin, 11, of Gozon Compound along Letre Road.

Those injured were Rene Dejuscos, 43; Isidro Buhat, 40; Reil Aryetgado, 33; Juanita Lorenzo, and four-year-old Tylen Catiliano, all residents of Paradaise Village.

Senior Fire Officer 3 Alvin Torres, arson investigator of the Malabon fire station, said they found Borcilla lying unconscious on the ground while fire enveloped her house.

Borcilla might have suffered a heart attack, he added.

Torres said Agustin was electrocuted while digging for copper wire at the fire scene before authorities could declare a "fire out" at 6:45 a.m. yesterday.

Agustin intended to sell the copper wire that he would be able to find, he added.

Torres said Borcilla and Agustin died on arrival at the Pagamutan ng Malabon, where they and the other victims were taken by rescuers.

Torres said the fire, which could have been caused by loosened electrical wiring, started shortly before 11 p.m. in a shanty after power had been restored.

Fire Officer 2 Joel Natera told The STAR yesterday firemen fought the blaze for almost eight hours before they could place it under control at about 6:54 a.m. yesterday.

In Caloocan City, a 30-minute fire gutted a residential building in Bagong Silang last Saturday afternoon, following the Luzon-wide blackout.

No casualties or injuries were reported.

At around 12 noon yesterday, President Arroyo visited the fire victims in Barangay Tonsuya, who are now temporarily housed at the Barangay Catmon Elementary School. – With Pete Laude