4 dead in Caloocan blaze

Four people, including three children aged 3, 5 and 7, burned to death after they were trapped in a fire believed to have been caused by a gas tank that exploded yesterday in Caloocan City.

The victims, whose bodies were charred beyond recognition, were identified by Caloocan fire authorities as Mayang Lao, 36, and her children Tomtom, 5, Tonton, 7 and a girl from an upper unit identified as Janine Kho, 3, all of 137 Interior A. De Jesus corner EDSA in Caloocan City.

Chief Inspector Agapito Nacario, city fire marshal, said the victims were trapped in their rooms in the fire that raged for an hour damaging the two-story 10-door apartment building owned by Benjamin Co, 42.

Nacario said the fire originated from a room occupied by Rosalie Hamila Kho, 27, mother of victim Janine. Neighbors said a gas tank in Kho’s kitchen may have exploded causing the fire at around 9 a.m.

Shortly before the fire broke out, Kho locked her sleeping daughter inside the unit and left to buy something at a nearby market.

Arson investigators said the Laos could have been earlier overcome by the thick smoke that suffocated them causing them to lose consciousness. This is apparently why they failed to run out of the burning building, an old hotel made mostly of wood and converted into an apartment.

The fire was contained at around 10 a.m. with damages estimated at about P4 million, authorities said.