Hotel fire kills 15
By AARON RECUENCO
December 19, 2010, 1:18pm
Firemen sift through the still-smoldering Bed and Breakfast Pension House in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan province in northern Philippines, after a fire rapidly swept through the budget hotel early Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010. (AP photo)
MANILA, Philippines – Fifteen people, including nine nursing school graduates who were hours away from taking the two-day licensure examinations, were confirmed killed when fire hit a budget hotel and a semi-commercial building in Tuguegarao City early Sunday morning, police said.
Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, Cagayan Police Provincial Office (PPO) director, said the fire broke out at 1 a.m., initially trapping most of the victims in the two buildings at the corner of Luna and Mabini Streets in downtown Tuguegarao City.
The fire reportedly started at a residential-commercial building and then jumped to the five-story Bed and Breakfast Pension House where the nursing school graduates were staying in preparation for the state board exam which started Sunday.
Superintendent Pedro Martirez, chief of the Tuguegarao City Police, said the bodies of the nine male nursing school graduates from the University of La Sallete in Isabela City were retrieved along with six others.
The charred remains of a couple who owned one of the destroyed buildings and their two grandchildren were also among the fatalities.
Martirez identified six of the fatalities as Norman Fondevilla, Anniedel Fondevilla, Mildred de Leon, Karylle de Leon, Josh de Leon, and a certain Jen, reportedly the househelp.
“All the victims were trapped in the two buildings. They were burned beyond recognition. Most of the victims were already identified through their relatives and companions,” said Martirez.
Martinez said 14 other people were injured in the fire that struck while occupants of the buildings were sleeping.
“We have already stopped the search and retrieval operations. All cadavers were already accounted for,” said Martirez in a phone interview past 2 p.m. Sunday.
In the case of the nursing school graduates, Martirez said they were being identified by the teacher-in-charge of their school and some of their classmates who survived the incident.
Aplasca said arson investigators were still determining the cause of the blaze and from what area of the building it started as of press time.
“The fire was declared under control at five in the morning, all the firemen in Tuguegarao City and nearby areas responded to put off the fire,” said Aplasca.
Quoting local investigators, Martirez said the fire started on the ground floor of a building which housed a motorcycle store, stockroom of a local firm. It was not clear yet what started the blaze.
The top floor of the building is where its owners and relatives were living. It is where their bodies were found, as well as those of their grandchildren.
Martirez said most of the cadavers were collected by rescuers on the 5th floor of the building, specifically in the comfort rooms.
He said such a scenario indicated that the victims struggled to get out and stay alive.
Martirez added that it was difficult for the fatalities to get out, considering that the fire started on the ground floor.
All the bodies were taken to the nearby Ortiz Funeral Homes for identification by relatives and forensics expert from the local police, said Martirez.
“All the 14 injured victims were taken to the People’s General Hospital and the Cagayan Valley Medical Center, they are all in stable condition now,” said Aplasca, adding that they were mostly nursing school graduates.
Malacañang ordered local government units to conduct regular safety inspections of buildings, following the hotel fire.
Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Abigail Valte extended sympathies to the families of the fire victims and asked the safety inspectors to undertake measures to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.
“We extend our condolences to the families of the victims,” Valte said over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.
“We want to remind local government units, city engineers, and safety inspectors to hold regular inspections of buildings to ensure their compliance to safety standards and prevent this incident from happening again,” she added. (With a report by Genalyn D. Kabiling)
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