3 children killed in Taytay blaze

Three children, including a five-month-old baby, were burned to death yesterday when a fire believed triggered by a lighted candle razed their shanty in Taytay, Rizal.

Authorities said the victims – four-year-old John Dexter Tejero and his brothers Johnny and Ardin, aged two and five months, respectively – were left asleep in their house near the dump in Sitio Lagundi, Barangay Muzon at around 12:30 a.m. while their parents, Jolie Tejero, 24, and Ardie, 25, were scavenging.

After 30 minutes, the couple heard a loud bang coming from their house, prompting them to rush home.

The couple tried to save their children but their house, made of light materials, had been razed to the ground when they arrived.

Probers said the couple had left a lighted candle, which could have fallen on the mosquito net, triggering the fire.