Philippines says Chinatown fire kills 11

MANILA: A fire ripped through a building in the Philippine capital´s Chinatown early on Friday killing 11 people, authorities said.

People screamed as flames leapt out of upper-floor windows of the five-storey mixed use building in Manila´s Binondo district, a witness said.

“I was about to open the store when I heard very loud screams of people then I saw this very huge fire from that top part of the building,” Susan Sago, 55, a salesgirl at a pastry shop on the ground floor, told AFP.

“We ran swiftly to the other street.”

More than 30 fire trucks rushed to the scene, getting the morning blaze under control about two hours later, the city´s fire bureau said.

Senior Inspector Michael Ignacio of the Manila fire district told reporters six bodies were found on the second floor and five more on the third floor. “It´s possible that they were all sleeping” when the fire broke out, he said, adding they were likely killed by suffocation.