Two dead, 5,000 left homeless by shantytown blaze
A fire tore through a shantytown in metropolitan Manila today, killing two people and displacing about 5,000 residents, officials said.
Two children remained missing and five people were injured in the blaze that destroyed more than 1,000 shanties in Paradise village in the fishing town of Malabon along Manila Bay, officials said.
The fire started close to midnight and raged on for seven hours. It was apparently triggered by a candle or a lamp that set a hut on fire, said Armando Balatbat, a spokesman for Mayor Amado Vicencio.
Many homes were lit by candles or lamps because of a blackout in the capital and most areas of the main northern island of Luzon on Saturday. Power was cut to about 35 million Filipinos.
The outage was caused by an overloaded power transmission line, according to officials.
Mr Balatbat said fire fighters were unable to reach many areas in the maze of ramshackle huts because of narrow alleys and the darkness. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was planning to visit displaced residents, who were brought to schools, village halls and a church.
