By Girlie Linao
dpa, Berlin
MANILA, Philippines — Four children died in the eastern Philippines Wednesday when their home caught fire after the parents had gone out, locking them in, officials said.
The children, aged between 4 and 16, were sleeping on the second floor of the two-storey house in Tacloban City, 570 kilometres south-east of Manila, when the fire struck before dawn.
The blaze was believed to have started in a canteen operated by the parents on the ground floor, said Charlie Herson, the city’s fire marshal.
The parents left the children before daylight and locked the house to go to market, he added.
The father was injured when he tried to rescue the children on his return, but the fire had already engulfed the house, Herson said.
Initial investigations showed faulty electrical wiring on the canteen could have caused the fire, he said.
___
(c)2016 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)