At least 8 killed in Philippines residential fire

Manila, Apr 2 (EFE).- At least eight people including three children were killed and three others injured on Monday in a fire that destroyed around 80 houses in an impoverished residential area in the Manila metropolitan area.

A spokesperson of the local firefighters’ department, Derrick Ramirez, told EFE that the deceased children were aged 3, 8 and 10 years and that the fire took place in a poor settlement inside the Philippines University campus in Quezon, the capital’s most populated metropolitan area.

The firefighters spent around two hours extinguishing the fire, which began at 5 am, with victims being trapped inside their homes due to the rapid spread of the blaze.

Images posted by the firefighters on social media showed flames and smoke engulfing the improvised huts, made with metal sheets and other light material.

Authorities are investigating the causes behind the incident, which rendered dozens of people homeless.

Slum fires are a frequent occurrence in the Philippines, where 43 percent of the population lives in such unorganized settlements, as per World Bank data. EFE

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