12 dead in Philippine fire World News

12 dead in Philippine fire

MANILA: Twelve people were killed in a huge fire that razed some 100 houses in a poor residential area in the Philippine capital on Sunday, authorities said.

Investigators said the fire at suburban Navotas city, north of Manila, began before midnight on Saturday and raged for about five hours.

City fire marshal Felis Medes said 11 people who were trapped in the burning structures were killed, while another person died in hospital while being treated.

"Five of those killed were children," he told reporters.

Arson investigators said they had yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

Radio reports quoted witnesses as saying that a mentally disturbed resident was seen playing with petrol in one of the burnt houses earlier in the day.