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TUGUEGARAO CITY— A fire tore through a five-story budget hotel before dawn Sunday, leaving at least 15 people dead, nine of them nursing graduates in town to take a licensure examination, police said.
Some managed to escape on their own but others may have panicked and got trapped by the flames.
A nursing college instructor, Romeo Opido, told police that about 36 nursing students were at the hotel. At least 27 escaped and nine were missing, he said before the bodies were discovered.
Twelve nursing students were taken to hospitals with minor burns.
Most of the fatalities were from the University of La Salette in Santiago City, said Senior Insp. Neil Caranguian, city fire officer.
Survivors take exam
The fire did not deter survivors from taking the licensure examination in the morning.
“We had to borrow slippers so we could take the examination because we failed to save any of our belongings,” said Rona Grace Pablo of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.
Caranguian said the fire broke out shortly after 1 a.m. and raged for 10 hours.
The fire was apparently fueled by car tires and other combustible materials stored in a motorcycle parts shop also owned by Fondevilla. The second floor housed the shop’s stock room. A section of the second floor up to the fourth floor served as guest rooms.
Senior Supt. Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director, said investigators were verifying reports that the fire started in the stock room. Paint cans also may have been in the building, which was recently renovated.
“Everything is hazy. The claim that the stock of oil and tires at the second floor [sparked the fire] was an initial analysis,” he said. It would take time to establish the cause of the fire, he said.
Councilor Kendrick Calubaquib said he passed by the area on his way home at past 1 a.m. and saw sparks coming from the hotel. “I thought it was a fireworks display … I was shocked when I realized that it was a fire and it was spreading,” he said.
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