MANILA – Three stay-in workers were killed while three others suffered burns when a factory burned down during a fire that raged for five hours in suburban Caloocan City, Metro Manila at the height of tropical storm “Feria,†arson investigators reported.
Investigators said the fatalities and the injured worked for a two-storey factory that manufactured supermarket display racks and shelves in one of the districts of Caloocan City.
The fire occurred at dawn on Thursday as storm Feria passed about 40 kilometers southwest of Metro Manila on its way out of the country but after wreaking destruction on lives and properties, especially in the Visayas and the Bicol Region.
At that time, however, weathermen said that Feria had already weakened into a tropical depression after it made landfall on the two island provinces of Mindoro in Southern Luzon late Wednesday night.
Investigators said the victims could have been overwhelmed by the thick smoke and those killed were burned alive where they fell.
Co-workers told investigators the victims had already fled to safety when the fire broke out near their sleeping quarters.
However, the witnesses said they saw the victims returned to their quarters in order to retrieve their cellular phones which they left in their hurry to escape the flames.
The mobile phones were reportedly new and still being paid on installment by the victims, according to the investigators.
Investigators said the fire broke out from the stockroom on the ground floor of the building, about 40 meters away from the victims’ quarters.
But the blaze quickly swallowed the stockroom, which contained highly inflammable materials like drums of paint and thinner, investigators said.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that Feria left eight people dead, 11 others missing and millions of pesos worth of private properties, government infrastructure such as bridges as well as agricultural products.
When it hit land, weathermen said Feria was packing center winds of 75 kilometers per hour (kph) with gustiness of up to 90 kph.
But as it moved inland toward Metro Manila on its way out to the China Sea, Feria weakened into a tropical depression, the weathermen added.
Nevertheless, as it continued to move away from the Philippines, weathermen said Feria is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring occasional rains over the western section of Luzon and Visayas until Saturday.
Loading ...
Reader’s Views