President Arroyo goes after fire culprits<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuters): Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
\non Sunday ordered a thorough investigation of a Manila hotel
\nblaze that killed 72 people and said those responsible would be
\nprosecuted.<\/p>\n
Investigators were rummaging through the gutted interior of
\nthe Manor Hotel in Manila's Quezon City suburb trying to
\ndetermine the cause of the blaze as officials said the hotel had
\nbeen warned last year about its poor safety standards.<\/p>\n
Fire Chief Francisco Senot told Reuters there was a report
\nfrom a witness that a hotel fire exit was padlocked shut.<\/p>\n
All of the victims of the early Saturday blaze were apparently
\nFilipinos, mostly from the provinces and in Manila for a weekend
\ngathering organized by Christian evangelists.<\/p>\n
The hotel is in a lower middle-class area, far from the
\ncapital's tourist districts.<\/p>\n
"The president said she wants a complete investigation to find
\nout who were responsible, that the culprits will have to be
\ncharged," Interior Secretary Jose Lina told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Investigators said the two-hour fire which broke out before
\ndawn on Saturday started in a karaoke bar on the third floor as a
\nsteady rain pelted the Manila area.<\/p>\n
City officials had said that 75 people were killed but Senot
\nsaid on Sunday 72 bodies had been recovered and only one was
\ncharred, suggesting the others died of asphyxiation.
\nAbout 50 people were injured.<\/p>\n
It was the worst fire disaster in the country since March
\n1996, when 160 people, mostly teenagers, were killed in a
\ndiscotheque, also in Quezon City. There too most victims were
\nsuffocated as they searched for exits.<\/p>\n
Locked exit<\/p>\n
Senot said investigators were concentrating on the possibility
\nthat the fire was started accidentally, perhaps by an electrical
\nshort circuit.<\/p>\n
He said the hotel had been served notice as far back as August
\nlast year for alleged lack of automatic fire alarms, obstructed
\nfire exits and a lack of fire extinguishers, and there were
\nwitness accounts of blocked exits on Saturday.<\/p>\n
"According to a witness, the fire exit was padlocked," Senot
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Under the law, establishments are entitled to four notices of
\nfailing to comply with the safety code before they can be closed
\ndown, unless they rectify the flaws, fire officials said.<\/p>\n
Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte told Manila's ANC
\ntelevision the hotel owner had contacted authorities but had yet
\nto appear, presumably because "he is talking to his lawyers".<\/p>\n
Belmonte said relevant officials would be punished if it was
\ndiscovered that safety rules were ignored or poorly enforced.
\n"We have to pinpoint responsibility... We mean business. I hope
\nheads will roll," Belmonte said.<\/p>\n
Manila newspapers said the hotel had violated some building
\ncodes.<\/p>\n
"The bodies told the story," said the Philippine Daily Star.
\n"They weren't charred; most of them weren't touched by flames at
\nall. Instead, the victims had suffocated to death, trapped in a
\nbuilding with inadequate fire safety facilities."<\/p>\n
"There are many other buildings in Metro Manila that blatantly
\nviolate fire safety rules. How many more horrific fires will it
\ntake before officials come down hard on the owners of these death
\ntraps?"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/president-arroyo-goes-after-fire-culprits-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}