9 inmates die in Philippine prison fire

Olaguer said inmates displaced by the fire will be housed in a minimum-security compound.

Wardens as well as inmates scrambled to save prisoners from their cells yesterday as the blaze struck the maximum security section of the regional prison on Leyte island, 620 kilometres southeast of Manila, according to the justice ministry.

A fire engulfing an overcrowded jail facility in the southeastern Philippines has killed nine prisoners and left another one missing.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that five of the fatalities had occurred at the prison’s psychiatric ward, two others who died were “weak, old and suffering from eye problems” and two were farm workers who went inside the building to save fellow inmates and salvage farm equipment.

Acting jail superintendent Geraldo Aro did not answer repeated phone calls although Junrey Ong, deputy fire chief of the town, said they had received no reports of possible escapees.

A fire destroyed a dormitory at a maximum-security prison in the central Philippines, killing 10 inmates, officials said Friday.

Olaguer says the fire may have been caused by faulty wiring in the building that was built after the earlier fire in 2013. The prison compound has seven buildings.

Fire crew managed to bring the flames under control at midnight(1600 GMT), Inspector Constantino Pedrosa said, adding the fire raged for almost eight hours and gutted one prison building which was assigned to prisoners convicted of murder and other serious crimes.