Oslob fire kills baby, injures mother, brother

CEBU, Philippines - A nine-month-old baby died while his mother and two-year-old brother suffered burns when a fire gutted their house down in barangay Tumalog, Oslob the other day.

Police identified the fatality as James Louie Linejan while the two-year-old boy was identified as John Lloyd Linejan.

Their mother, Joan, 25, was doing laundry around 11am at a river about 200 meters away when her four-year-old daughter Riza Mae came running to her and told her that their house caught fire.

Joan immediately proceeded to their house, which was already ablaze and not minding the flames, went inside in an attempt to save her baby she earlier placed on a hammock. She arrived too late.

The house was made of light materials, thus, it was not difficult for the fire to spread easily, said PO2 Alberto Yray of the Oslob Police.

Joan’s husband, Luciano, was at work as a construction worker somewhere at their barangay when the incident happened. The eldest child, six, was at school at that time so it was the four-year-old daughter looking after her younger siblings.

Yray said nobody noticed when the fire broke out residents in the area lived far from each other.

Investigation revealed that John Lloyd was playing with a lighter prior to the incident, which could have triggered the fire. Yray said they learned of the fire only six hours later from the neighbors of the Linejan family.

John Lloyd was already released from the hospital while Joan, who suffered burns throughout her body, is still recuperating. The Linejan family is now under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-7. — Niña G. Sumacot/JMO(THE FREEMAN)