MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine official says a 5-year-old girl was killed and 4,000 people were left homeless in a fire that razed a squatters’ colony near the main port in the capital.
Senior Fire Officer Emmanuel Gaspar says 500 shanties were gutted by a fire that broke out late Saturday at Manila’s Baseco Compound, a crowded slum along the rim of Manila Bay.
Gaspar said Sunday that a 5-year-old girl died in the fire but that there were no other reports of deaths or injuries. An Associated Press photographer at the site saw people waiting to be treated for minor injuries, including wounds from glass shards.
The cause of the fire, which raged for about two hours, is still under investigation.