Six-year-old saves brother from burning house

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – A six-year-old girl sustained burns in various parts of her body after she saved her four-month-old baby brother from their burning house in Barangay San Jose, Sipalay City, in southern Negros Occidental last Sunday.

Virginia Rojo and her brother were sleeping when their house, which was made of light materials, caught fire at around 8 p.m.

In an interview with a local radio station, their 39-year-old mother Lorna said the two were alone in the house when it happened. Lorna, who works as a laundry woman and househelper, said she left them late Sunday afternoon for work.

A lighted cigarette thrown near the house was believed to have caused the fire.

Virginia, in an interview with Aksyon Radyo, said she woke up feeling hot and heard a voice, whom she believed was that of “Papa Jesus,” telling her to take her baby brother out of a makeshift hammock locally called an “aboy-aboy.”

Her baby brother was unharmed but Virginia sustained injuries in her eye, chest and arms when a burning curtain fell on her. She is currently being treated for burns at a government hospital in Southern Negros.

The story was picked by the radio station late Wednesday after a barangay official appealed for help in behalf of the family.