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1,200 Philippine families lose homes in fire

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-07 15:38

MANILA, Philippines -- A fire swept through a Manila slum Saturday morning, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving about 1,200 families homeless, a fire official said.

Residents salvage their belongings after a fire razed hundreds of houses and left more than a thousand families homeless at a slum area in Mandaluyong City in Manila April 7, 2007. There were no reports of casualties from the blaze. [Reuters]

Two people were slightly injured as the fire gutted houses, many made of lightweight plywood, in Mandaluyong city, said Avelino Caya, chief of the arson division of the Mandaluyong fire department.

He said about 400 houses shared by about 1,200 families were destroyed in the pre-dawn blaze, which raged for about five hours before it was brought under control around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT).

Caya said the cause has not yet been determined. Witnesses told investigators the fire started in a house somewhere in the middle of the slum community.

Caya said firefighters had difficulty reaching the area partly because the alleys and narrow streets had been clogged by residents fleeing with their belongings.

"The streets were so narrow and there were so many people," he said.

Most of the homeless have been temporarily sheltered at a gymnasium and two public schools in the city, he said.

Authorities last month issued annual fire warnings nationwide, with the onset of the Philippines' hot and dry season.