7th body recovered from gutted building

Search teams of the Manila Fire Department finally recovered yesterday the charred remains of the remaining victim in the 11-hour fire which gutted a four-story residential and commercial building in Binondo, Manila last Wednesday, raising the number of fatalities to seven.

Arson investigator SFO1 Wilson Tana said firefighters found a charred body beyond recognition under the stairs at the second floor of the Eliong Commercial building located at 589 Quintin Paredes street in Binondo past 10 a.m. yesterday. Tana believes the remains belonged to one of the housemaids who had been missing since the fire struck.

Senior Inspector Adan Bithao confirmed that there were nine persons inside the building when the tragedy happened. The five-member Chua family employed four stay-in housemaids

So far, the bodies of the seven victims had been retrieved inside the building. Two housemaids were rescued at the height of the fire.

The remains of one of the housemaids, identified as Korina Simon, were retrieved at the second floor last Thursday night.

Five of the dead were the entire members of the Chua family, who owned the building which also served as storage warehouse for plastic toys and merchandise.

The bodies of Ely Chua, 59, his wife Tessie, 53, and children Edralin, 29, Elizalde, 25, and Erica, 16, were found in separate rooms at the third floor of the building.

Firefighters rescued two housemaids of the Chuas identified as Luisita Seryales, 38, who suffered third-degree burns all over her body, and Myrna Pesaro, 42, who sustained lacerations on both feet.

Bithao said all the victims were trapped at the upper floors when the fire started at the ground floor.

The occupants were seen waving and shouting for help from the steel-enforced windows as fire engulfed the building.

Rescuers and firefighters had a hard time entering the burning building due to thick smoke. Firefighters had to use steel saws to enter the heavily-fortified structure. – Nestor Etolle