5 dead as fire razes public market
A MASSIVE fire engulfs the Sorsogon City Public Market, killing at least five people and damaging the building, disrupting the livelihoods of vendors and tenants.
Photograph courtesy of sorsogon PIO
NAGA CITY — Five people were found dead inside the comfort room of a market stall after a fire razed the main building of the Sorsogon City Public Market before midnight Saturday, police said.
The victims were identified as Lerisa Grefalda Tadong, 40, her daughter Chloe, and three market vendors. The fire broke out at around 10:40 p.m. in Barangay Sampaloc. The Tadongs were residents of Barangay Cawit in Casiguran, Sorsogon.
Police said the bodies were found on Sunday, inside the comfort room of a stall owned by Tadong. The victims had initially been reported missing while the fire was raging.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Sorsogon City declared the fire out at around 2:25 a.m. Sunday. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire and assess the extent of the damage.
Wooden structure
Fire trucks from Sorsogon City and nearby areas responded, but the blaze consumed much of the market’s wet and dry sections. The building was mostly made of wood, and numerous stalls selling seafood, fish, meat, clothes and other goods were destroyed.
Sorsogon Gov. Jose Edwin “Boboy” Hamor visited the site to oversee the response and assure market tenants and stall owners of provincial government assistance.
He ordered the Provincial Engineering Office to prepare an area along the Sorsogon City Coastal Road where displaced vendors and business owners could temporarily set up a makeshift market and resume their livelihoods.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Bicol provided P10,000 in cash assistance to each of the bereaved families through its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program.
The agency also began arranging funeral assistance to help cover burial expenses. Social workers are set to visit survivors confined in hospitals to provide psychosocial support and assess their need for financial assistance, the DSWD Bicol said in a statement.
DSWD social workers also visited the victims’ families on Sunday to provide psychological first aid and help them cope with the emotional distress caused by the loss of their loved ones.