10-year-old killed in Antipolo fire

A fallen gas lamp triggered a 30-minute fire that killed a 10-year-old boy in Antipolo City last Wednesday night.

The victim, Jovel Napol, a Grade 4 pupil, sustained third degree burns in the head and body and died while being treated at the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.

Fire prober FO2 Rodel Druja said Napol’s mother, Jean, left the boy and her two other children, aged five and six, sound asleep in their house at Pontarosa Heights in Barangay San Roque at about 8:45 p.m. to buy something from a nearby store.

She left a lighted gas lamp atop a drawer inside their bedroom, Druja said.

When she returned 30 minutes later, Jean was shocked to see their house on fire. When she rushed inside, she saw Jovel unconscious and her two other children weeping beside him.

Neighbors rushed the boy to the hospital, but doctors failed to revive him.

Druja said they are studying whether to charge the boy’s mother with negligence for the death of her son. — Non Alquitran