MANILA, 1 January 2004 — A blaze set off by firecrackers swept through an old public market in the eastern Philippine city of Lucena hours before the New Year’s Eve revelry, killing at least 15 people, officials said last night.
Twenty-two others were reported injured.
The fire, which occurred at around noon, dampened celebrations to bring in the new year. Grieving people looking for loved ones packed a local morgue.
“ This is a costly lesson. We’ve been asking the people to refrain from using firecrackers,” lamented police officer Limwell Domingo.
He said many of those who were killed and injured got trapped inside their stalls.
The fire in Lucena, a city about 120 kilometers (74 miles) southeast of Manila, started when a market vendor lit a rocket, which hit and ignited a stack of firecrackers in his stall, Domingo said. Frightened Police were able to rescue a 92-year-old woman from a nearby house that went up in flames.
Chief Inspector Nelson Jalbuena, city fire marshal, said the fire, which was put out after more than one hour, destroyed about “75 percent of the block near the city market.”
“The firecrackers just suddenly exploded,” he said. “The victims ran inside the building where they were also residing. When the firecrackers exploded. They were trapped inside.”
“Some of the victims were burned beyond recognition, while others suffocated,” he added.
Celebrations in the Philippines are traditionally bloody because of the widespread use of powerful firecrackers and guns that hurt hundreds, set houses ablaze, engulf cities in smog and force airports to close in war zone-like conditions.
Authorities tried to prevent accidents this year by showing maimed victims on television. They have also threatened to arrest people who fire guns to welcome in the New Year. Superstitious Filipinos believe the noise will drive evil and bad luck away.
Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said 187 people, about half of them children, had been injured by firecrackers in the Philippines since Dec. 21, compared to 122 injuries in the same period last year.
Many children have been hurt in recent days because manufacturers were selling low-quality firecrackers at cheaper prices, giving minors easier access to the explosives. Imported firecrackers from China and Taiwan have also flooded the local market.
Interior Secretary Jose Lina warned policemen, firemen and jail guards against indiscriminately firing their guns to welcome the New Year.
“Any policeman, fireman or jailer found to have indiscriminately fired his gun shall be criminally prosecuted,” he said.
Last year, at least two people were killed and nearly 1,000 people injured by firecrackers. The Health Department said all private and public hospitals had been placed on high alert and had been asked to stock up on medical supplies.
Trauma and eye specialists have also been placed on stand-by, bracing for patients suffering from shock, blast and burn injuries.
Along with the concern over firecracker accidents, national security adviser Roilo Golez said authorities have been alerted to watch for terrorist attacks, citing intelligence reports of possible terror plots and the almost-simultaneous bombings on Dec. 30, 2000, that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others in metropolitan Manila.
The bombings were blamed on Filipino Muslim guerrillas and Jemaah Islamiyah, a radical Islamic group in Southeast Asia with reported links to the Al-Qaeda network.
“We’re concerned that they may be planning a repeat of what happened on Dec. 30, 2000,” Golez told radio station DZRH.
