GENERAL TRIAS CITY, Cavite – One hundred four workers, including three Japanese, were injured while three others were reported missing in a fire that hit the House Technology Industries Pte. Ltd. factory at the Cavite Export Processing Zone Authority here Wednesday.
The fire was under control but has not been fully extinguished nearly 18 hours after it started, said Cavite Gov. Jesus Crispin Remulla. Firefighters hoped to enter and inspect the factory yesterday.
About 10 of the injured were in critical condition, Remulla said, adding some employees jumped from windows to escape the blaze at the three-story building where pre-fabricated house parts are manufactured for export to Japan.
The fire apparently started in a section where a machine used to manufacture house insulation materials overheated, he said.
Chief Insp. Ariel C. Avilla, Gen. Trias fire marshal, said that it may take time to put off the fire in the building due to the presence of flammable materials. “It may take more hours or even a day to stop the fire due to the burning combustible materials in the building,” Avilla said.
Senior Supt. Arthur Velsaco Bisnar, Cavite police director, citing a report of the General Trias police and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Team, said that the victims were taken to hospitals in the city.
Bisnar said 40 either sustained burns or wounds. At least 10 sustained third degree burns and are in critical condition. The rest suffered suffocation or smoke inhalation and many were sent home after treatment.
The fire, which broke out at 6:19 p.m., was the biggest in the province in years. Avilla said the fire reached Task Force Charlie and was placed under control at 12:30 a.m. yesterday.
Authorities are determining if there are workers trapped after some of the victims claimed that there were workers in the building at the height of the fire.
Avilla said that there was no trace of trapped victims as of 12 noon yesterday in the building.
FO2 Willy T. Verdadero of the city fire station said that an on-duty security guard of the Eagle Security Agency reported that workers were able to get out and that no one had been left in the burning building.
A third of about 15,000 employees were on duty when the fire struck and company officials were doing a count to find out if any more were missing at the sprawling factory compound. (With reports from AP) (ANTHONY GIRON)