A 54-year old woman died in a fire that gutted at least 20 houses in Marakina City on Tuesday night, radio dzBB reported.

According to police reports, Carmelita Orale of Fortune Village, Apitong Street, Markina Heights, was trapped in the fire, which broke out shortly before 8 p.m.

A man who was reportedly a relative of Orale, was rushed to the hospital due to heart attack.

It took about two hours before the fire was put off because the passageways were narrow and the area was crowded with people. Investigators have yet determined where the fire started.

Earlier, a fire that reached the fifth alarm, razed an old building of the Philippine Charity Sweeptakes Office near Adamson University at San Marcelino Street, in Ermita, Manila.

The blaze grew due to the blowing wind. The fire ate away the first and second floors of the building. Portions of the ceiling have also collapsed.

DzBB said investigators were baffled by the cause of the fire because the building had been abandoned since 1999. The supply of electricity had also been cut off a long time ago but the connection remained active.