Department store fire kills 21

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 10

Department store fire kills 21

NZPA-Reuter Butuan Eighteen women and three children were killed when fire destroyed a department store in the southern Philippines, yesterday. The police said the victims were sleeping above the Butuan Fairmart store — where the women were saleswomen — and could not escape because the exits were padlocked. Two people jumped from a window and were treated for second-degree bums.

The girl and two boys killed were the children of the store’s owner, who was in Manila, about 600 km away, the police said.

First reports indicated that the fire, which took iy 2 hours to control, was started by an electric stove which overheated. The two survivors told the police that the victims were trapped in two rooms on the second floor which served as sleeping quarters for the saleswomen.

The keys to the main door and fire exits were kept by the shop’s cashier, who was among the victims, said a Fire Department spokesman.