George Herbella stares at the damaged home of his brother-in-law after they failed to save his four-year old niece during the fire. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Stella Jean Romero, 4, was playing with her brother at the mezzanine of her aunt’s house in Bayabas extension, Punta Princesa, Cebu City when it was engulfed by fire at noon yesterday.
Her uncle, George Herbella, tried to save her but she was trapped by the blaze.
Stella Jean’s burned body was later found in the area, which was used as a stockroom.
Her 5-year-old brother, Raven, escaped unharmed.
Their father found him crying alone.
The boy was still in shock and unable to speak when fire investigators rushed to the area.
P03 Renato Noval of the Mobile Patrol Group found the girl, severely burned, in the mezzanine.
He rushed the girl to the Cebu City Medical Center but she did not make it alive.
Relatives said the children may have been playing with matches because there was no electric wire that could have sparked the fire in the area.
“Wa may laing maingon ta sa hinungdan sa sunog kay wa man na dihay linya sa kuryente. Pagawas nako dako na kaayo ang kayo”, Herbella said.
(There was no electrical connection there so I could not think of anything else that could have caused the fire. When I went out of the room, the fire was already big.)
The children’s father, Mike, was fixing a motorcycle on the street some 15 meters away from the house while their mother was attending a relative’s vigil wake.
Fire Officer Three (FO3) Emiliano Daño said they are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.
Neighbors helped throw pails of water, preventing the blaze from spreading.
Another house owned by Edito Biteto was also damaged.
Bellen Romero Ceballos, aunt of the victims, was in Carbon market selling meat when she heard of the news.
“Kabuotan atong bat-ana,” she told Cebu Daily News. (She was such a good child.)
The fire took place in an interior portion behind the Punta Princesa barangay hall.