Phil. Daily Inquirer, October 6, 2006
AN hour-long fire caused by an unattended candle took the lives of six children in Taytay, Rizal east of Manila early Friday, an arson investigator said.
The children -- siblings Alzaman Dahud, 7; Armad Dahud, 6; Alia Dahud, 4; Ali Dahud, 3; and Alvin Dahud, 2 -- were sleeping alone in the house as their parents were earlier arrested for dealing drugs, police officer Rolando Crisostomo said. Their playmate, Manases Dioso, 9, slept with them.
The two-storey house on Bonifacio Street in Sitio Tapayan, Barangay (village) Sta. Ana, caught fire at about 2:30 a.m., according to Fire Officer 1 Conrado Napoles.
The fumes must have suffocated the children, said Napoles.
The blaze was started by a candle that the children had lit because power in the housing development in Taytay town had been knocked out by Typhoon Milenyo (international codename: Xangsane) last week, said Crisostomo.
Babylene Lanson, 15, a cousin of the five siblings, told investigators the children were all sleeping in one room on the second floor of their wooden house when the fire broke out. She said she tried but failed to open the door to save the children, Napoles said.
Two other brothers, ages 8 and 11, were sleeping at the ground floor and escaped unharmed along with Lanson.
The blaze that only reached first alarm was declared under control at 3:40 a.m., he said.
Faudsia Daud and his unnamed wife had earlier been arrested for drug-dealing, Crisostomo said.
