Probe ordered after fire killed 7 in Tacloban temporary shelter

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government ordered today concerned government agencies to investigate the fire that hit a temporary shelter in Tacloban yesterday resulting in the death of a mother and six of her children.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government should make sure that similar tragic incident should not happen again.

"What happened was really very saddening...this happened past midnight, thus, there were implications, number one, on safety procedures," he said in a news briefing in Malacanang, the presidential palace.

The authorities should determine the safety precautions being implemented at temporary shelters where survivors of super typhoon Haiyan that struck most parts of the country last November have been temporarily relocated.

He also said that there should be "responsive system to ensure the safety and well-being" of other people now in the temporary shelters.

"This is one serious thing that will surely be given serious attention and action so that (the incident) won't be repeated," Coloma said.

The blaze, being blamed to unattended kerosene lamp, razed the temporary shelter of the victims past midnight on Wednesday.

The shelter was one of 40 tents in Costa Brava village, San Jose district in Tacloban City, Leyte province, considered as the worst-hit province by Haiyan.