San Joaquin fire kills 6-year-old girl
A six-year-old girl was killed in a fire that gutted her family’s house and that of their neighbors in Brgy. Balabago, San Joaquin, Iloilo late Monday evening.
Police said the victim, Rize Mae Tanangonan, was left at home with her elder sister Zairamer when the fire broke out, as their parents went to work.
The fire might have been caused by an electrical short circuit, according to initial reports.
Zairamer said she woke up as the fire started to spread and she immediately looked for her sister. In tears, she narrated that she could not brave the fire that was already eating up the room where her sister was sleeping.
But she heard Riza Mae cry for help, she said.
The girls’ father, accompanied by their mother, reported to the resort where he was working when the power came back following a brownout in the area.
They left their two daughters home but brought their other child earlier to a relative’s house.
The couple rushed home when their neighbors informed them about the fire. They found their daughter gone and their personal belongings lost in the blaze.
“Indi ko na masalbar si May-May (Riza Mae’s nickname) kay grabe na gid ang kalayo sa kwarto (I couldn’t go to my daughter anymore because the fire was so big),” Amalia, the children’s mother, said.
Amalia’s elder sister also prevented her from going near the fire.
The fire also damaged the houses of the Tanangonans’ neighbors, Rhodora Camarista and Estelita Fabian.
