Fire guts ancestral home in QC; 1 killed

MANILA, Philippines - A 50-year-old man died in a predawn fire that razed an ancestral house in Banawe area in Quezon City on Thursday. Authorities identified found the charred body of Robert Chua in the comfort room on the ancestral house's second floor. The ancestral house was located at the corner of Banawe and Cuenco streets. Three more people were hurt by the blaze. Relatives said that Chua was the first to be roused by the fire that broke out at around 1 a.m. After waking up all his relatives, Chua returned to the burning house to get valuable documents. However, he failed to get out of the house the second time. His body was found four hours after the fire was put out by the firemen. Arson investigators have yet to determine how the fire started.