Manila hotel turns into inferno<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): Shocking safety lapses and barred windows turned
\na hotel in a suburb of the Philippine capital into a fiery death
\ntrap on Saturday as residents screamed in vain for help.<\/p>\n
At least 75 people died after the blaze broke out on the third
\nfloor of the budget Manor Hotel in Quezon City at 4:30 a.m. local
\ntime.<\/p>\n
Firefighters battled to rescue hotel guests trapped in their
\nrooms by iron bars on the windows and balconies.<\/p>\n
Whole families could be seen gripping the metal grilles in
\nterror, weeping and calling for help as firefighters doused them
\nwith water to try to cool them down.<\/p>\n
Firemen used circular saws to cut through some of the bars and
\nsucceeded in pulling a few people through the windows and onto
\nelevated ladders on the fire engines.<\/p>\n
Although some of the victims suffered burns, the vast majority
\nof those killed died from suffocation due to smoke inhalation.
\nThe only marks on their bodies were black patches of soot around
\ntheir mouths and nostrils.<\/p>\n
From the outside, the six-story hotel did not even appear to
\nbe damaged by the fire that reportedly originated from an
\nelectrical spark.<\/p>\n
Only the interior of the third and fourth floors were clearly
\nravaged by the flames but on the undamaged upper floors, dead
\nbodies were found in hallways and rooms.<\/p>\n
Hours after the fire was brought under control, firemen were
\nstill pulling bodies from the building.<\/p>\n
The corpses of a man and his wife were found huddled in a
\nbathroom on the sixth floor. \"Let's try to revive these two,\" a
\nparamedic was heard saying as the couple were taken down.<\/p>\n
The hotel's garage was turned into an impromptu morgue as the
\nbodies were taken out and checked for identification.<\/p>\n
Paramedics tried to revive some of those taken out but without
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
In the absence of body bags, the deceased were wrapped in
\nblankets or any other pieces of cloth that could be found. The
\nbodies were later taken to a police camp where they were lined up
\nin rows at a covered basketball court so relatives could try to
\nidentify them.<\/p>\n
A huge blackboard was set up listing the dead who had been
\nidentified as well as the names of the injured.<\/p>\n
The large number of victims who apparently died of suffocation
\nimmediately raised suspicions that the hotel had not provided
\nsufficient safety measures such as water sprinklers, fire alarms,
\nemergency lights and well-designated fire exits.<\/p>\n
Survivor Abner Romano said in a radio interview that there
\nwere no emergency lights, no sprinklers and no warning bell. He
\nand the other people in his room only discovered the hotel was on
\nfire when someone began banging on the doors of their rooms.<\/p>\n
President Gloria Arroyo visited the hospital where some of the
\nsurvivors were being treated and then went to the police camp
\nwhere the bodies of the dead were taken.<\/p>\n
\"Thank God you survived,\" Arroyo was heard telling Ricardo
\nDumag, a man suffering from injuries after he jumped from one of
\nthe upper floors during the fire.<\/p>\n
Fire marshal Ricardo Nemenze said that two months ago, an
\ninspection had found that the hotel had violated certain safety
\nregulations. The owners were given up to 30 days to rectify this
\nbut Nemenze did not say whether they took the necessary measures.<\/p>\n
Nemenze also said that the installation of immovable metal
\nbars on the windows was a violation of fire safety rules.<\/p>\n
Almost all the people in the hotel were members of \"God's
\nFlock\", a religious group attending a conference for born-again
\nChristians in Manila.<\/p>\n
It was the worst fire disaster to hit the country since a 1996
\nblaze in Ozone Disco, also in Quezon City, which killed about 160
\npeople. Most of them were teenagers celebrating the end of the
\nschool year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/manila-hotel-turns-into-inferno-1447893297",
"image": ""
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