OLIVER TEVES
Associated Press Writer
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (AP) -- Fire swept through a six-story budget hotel before dawn Saturday, killing at least 68 people, many trapped in their rooms by anti-burglar bars, firefighters said. Some victims had been attending a Christian convention.
A large number of the dead were packed into bathrooms after apparently trying to escape the flames and smoke at the Manor Hotel in Quezon City, they said. Scores more were injured.
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Some Major Hotel Fires in the Last 20 Years
Nov. 27, 1980 - 87 dead at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jan. 1, 1986 - 97 dead at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Jan. 23, 1987 - 37 dead at the Siddharth Continental Hotel in New Delhi, India.
July 1993 - 37 dead at Hotel Sivas in Turkey.
Jan. 29, 1997 - 30 dead at the Yanshan Hotel in Changsha, China.
July 11, 1997 - 91 dead at the Royal Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand.
Aug. 18, 2001 - At least 70 dead at the Manor Hotel in Quezon City, Philippines.
Source: Associated Press
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Most of the victims apparently belonged to an international religious group with U.S. links, but it was not immediately clear if any foreigners were among the casualties.
Officials said it was the country's deadliest hotel fire ever and the worst in the Philippines since a fire at the Manila Ozone discotheque left 160 dead in 1996.
Firefighters said they recovered 68 bodies, but were still searching rooms for more victims. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were on the first two floors of the building, which were used as offices.
Many of the building's fire exits were blocked or locked and the hallways and rooms apparently were not equipped with fire alarms or emergency lights, said Danilo Cabrera, of the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Firefighter Nivart Ulayo said he arrived shortly after the fire broke out at 4:15 a.m. to find screaming men, women and children. The blaze was extinguished by 7:30 a.m.
Eighteen people were rescued by firefighters who sawed through the bars, officials said. Two people attempted to jump off from the building but were pulled to safety.
The bodies were placed outside the building. Many of them, apparently those of Filipinos, showed no signs of injury from flames. Firefighters said they appeared to have died from suffocation.
Pastor Resty Cruz, of the Philippines, said 172 members of the Don Clowers Ministry checked in at the hotel, attending a conference in Manila. An internet Web site said the group was based in Coppell, Texas.
He said he had only accounted for 80 of them, several injured, as of two hours after the fire was extinguished.
Eugene Schwebler, a 60-year-old ministry member from Wisconsin who escaped the blaze, said he first tried to leave through a corridor but the heat turned him back. He succeeded by pulling the air conditioner out of the wall to reach a fire escape.
``I don't know how many came out. The lights went out and we heard people screaming,'' said Schwebler, who's hometown wasn't immediately available.
He said he thought the fire started in a restaurant on the third floor.
Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte said the first two floors of the hotel were used as offices. But he said firefighters were unable to immediately search one floor of hotel rooms for bodies because the fire badly weakened the structure.
Belmonte said the city had previously warned the hotel of inadequate fire safety.
An unidentified woman interviewed by DZMM radio said she was trapped in her third-floor room by metal bars on the window but firefighters using a ladder cut the bars from outside to extract her.
Interior Secretary Joel Lina said authorities were investigating for fire code violations. The Quezon City fire marshall was relieved of duties immediately.
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