Official: Tuguegarao fire death toll climbs to 16

(Updated 2:39 p.m.) The death toll from Sunday's fire that hit a pension house in Tuguegarao City in the northern Philippine province of Cagayan rose to 16 after one of the survivors succumbed to asthma complications. Cagayan Valley (Region 2) deputy regional fire chief Senior Superintendent Sergio Soriano Jr. said the fatality as one of the nursing students who earlier survived the blaze. "Kanina may na-receive akong info ang isang estudyante nadala sa hospital dahil may asthma, na-complicate. Sampu na ang nursing students, 16 na ang namatay (I just received a report that one of the students who survived the fire and was brought to a hospital succumbed to asthma complications. That makes 10 nursing students who died and 16 fatalities overall)," Soriano said in an interview on dzBB radio. A separate report on QTV's Balitanghali identified the fatality as Jose Julius Gonzales.
Soriano said he has given his men 24 hours to finalize their findings on the incident that occurred before dawn Sunday. Also, he said they are verifying information that the mayor's permit for the Bed and Breakfast pension house had already been put on hold before the fire occurred. He said their initial findings showed the fire may have stemmed from an electrical short circuit at a store selling motorcycle parts near the hotel. "Yun pa rin, nagsimula sa baba, overloaded na kuryente. Naroon ang imbakan ng gasolina (Our initial findings indicated the fire started at the ground floor. It may have stemmed from an electrical short circuit, with the sparks hitting containers of gasoline)," Soriano said. Based on the interview of firefighters on some of the survivors, the light was flickering before the fire erupted around 1 in the morning. Balitanghali reported the bodies of four of the 10 killed nursing graduates were brought to the school gymnasium for a Mass for their eternal repose. The families of Ronualdo Respicio, Ryan James Malaki, Richard Allan Gonzales and Francis Caranbas were present during the Mass. Some of the survivors recounted that Caranbas allowed them to go down the building first. Relatives of the victims blamed the lack of safety facilities of the pension house and failure of the school to choose a safer place for their students. They were also disappointed on how the firefighters conducted the rescue operations. School authorities, on the other hand, vowed to conduct their own investigation to determine if indeed there was failure on their part. Aside from the five, other fatalities were Jerome Saet, Nelmar Galapia, Narl Jensan Lopez, Henderson Lodevico, Marlon Justin Viernes, Norman Fontanilla, Anibel Fontanilla, Mildred de Leon; Karyle de Leon and Dios de Leon, reportedly the children and grandchildren of the building's owners; and a certain Jen, believed to be the hotel's caretaker. — with Amita Legaspi/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV