(AP) MANILA – The fire in the Butuan city store broke out at 3:55 a.m. and raged for five hours. Firefighters and police scouring the gutted building found 17 bodies, said city police chief Pedro Obaldo.
Store employee Mylene Tulo, who escaped with two co-workers, said she was roused from sleep as the fire spread rapidly in the third-floor office where they slept. Amid the inferno and yells for help, she managed to dash out with her colleagues. They sustained minor burns on their arms.