COTABATO CITY — A retired police officer who had been bedridden due to illness died in a fire that hit a residential area of Pedro Colina Hill here before dawn Friday.
Fire Officer Aldrin Jason Nara, speaking for the Bureau of Fire Protection’s station in Cotabato City, said the blaze, which started at about 2 a.m., first gutted the house owned by retired police Col. Mendiora Mambatao in Pedro Colina Hill, Barangay Rosary Heights 1.
Six other homes were subsequently razed by the fire, rendering at least 10 families homeless.
Citing investigation, Nara said the fire originated at the ceiling of the room where the bedridden retired police officer was staying.
Mambatao’s 18-year-old daughter survived by leaping through the window and landing in an improvised cushion put up by neighbors and responders.
Nara said firefighters had difficulty reaching the fire scene due to narrow roads and parked vehicles along the route.
Initial investigation pointed to faulty electrical wiring as the cause of the fire. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
