Six individuals, including two children, perished in a fire that hit a residential building in Laong Laan, Sampaloc, early on Friday morning.

Based on the initial investigation by the Manila Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the victims were from two families. Three charred bodies were found on the second floor of the house, while the rest were found on the ground floor.

The BFP reported that the building is owned by Nida Rivera Polo and is occupied by her family, but they have not yet identified the names of the victims as of press time.

The incident occurred at 2:40 a.m., while the victims were still asleep. The fire quickly escalated to the second alarm and was declared out at 4:32 a.m. The building, which had four floors, is located at Laong Laan corner Blumentritt Road.

Responding firefighters encountered difficulty entering the area due to narrow alleys where only one person could pass at a time.

It was learned that the fire ravaged the second floor of the residential house, which was built with wooden materials, causing it to collapse.

The BFP is still conducting profiling of the victims to confirm the identities of the six charred bodies.