MANILA, Philippines — A 50-year old man and his 23-year old son died when they were trapped in the house they rented in Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City which caught fire late Wednesday night.
Marlon Abando, a first responder, said it was past 11 p.m. when he heard shouts of “Sunog, sunog (Fire, fire)” and saw a man surrounded by the flames eating up the second floor of the rental unit on La Danda Street owned by a Regie Basco.
The flames spread quickly from the wooden house to four more residential buildings, prompting the fire bureau to declare it a third alarm blaze past midnight.
The fire was finally declared out past 1 a.m. and it was then that the bodies of Arnel Lambino and his son Aries were found.
Makati fire marshal Superintendent Roy Quisto said when firefighters arrived, “malaki na ‘yung sunog at halos bumagsak na ‘yung second floor at ‘yung sunog gumagapang na sa kabilang kabahayan (the flames were already high and the second floor had almost collapsed and the fire was creeping towards neighboring houses).”
Quisto also said the victims may have been sleeping already when the fire struck and were, thus, trapped.
He added that electric power to the rental unit had been cut, giving rise to suspicions the blaze may have been caused either by an unattended candle or an illegal connection.
Forensic investigators were also to probe the victims’ bodies for any signs of foul play.
