MANILA, 20 April 2005 — A Filipino woman and her Sri Lankan husband and their two children were killed in a fire that gutted a hotel in Paris on Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
In a press statement quoting a report of the Philippine ambassador in France, the DFA identified the Filipino as Maira Padayao of Balindong town in the southern province of Lanao del Sur.
Padayao’s Sri Lankan husband was identified as Rajpakseo Pisarage. With them were four-year-old Rouch Padayao and an unnamed 22-month old baby.
Ambassador Hector K. Villaroel’s report said the victims were staying in the six-story Paris Opera hotel in the central part of the French capital. Police authorities had reported that the fire killed 22 people, half of them children.
Secretary Alberto Romulo conveyed his condolences to the victims’ relatives and directed the embassy in Paris to make arrangements give the necessary assistance, said the DFA.
Mrs. Padayao was a member of the Filipino Muslim Community in France, the DFA said.
Mat Ara, the president of the Filipino association and Padayao’s closest relative in Paris, said Padayao will be buried according to Muslim funeral rites and that the burial of the children with the mother is now being arranged.
