THE PHILIPPINES: More than 20,000 people were left homeless after a fire swept through a huge slum in the Philippine capital, Manila, fire department and local officials said yesterday.
No deaths or injuries were reported but the blaze, which started late on Sunday, reduced to ash more than 2,500 makeshift homes on a man-made island, part of a closed state-run shipyard complex.
"If there had been streets for the firemen to access, the fire would not have been that bad," said a Manila city official.
Investigators said a gas lamp or candle could have caused the fire that lasted for seven hours before it was put out with assistance from coastguard and naval boats.
The slum colony, known as a bailiwick of deposed and detained President Joseph Estrada, is a maze of narrow alleys and wooden bridges jutting out from Manila Bay.
Residents, many of them working as stevedores, were seen running away from their burning shacks, clutching a few belongings, radio reports said.
Many were brought to a nearby gymnasium, abandoned warehouses and open lots in the port area as city officials wondered how to resettle them.
Almost half of the slum was destroyed in a fire two years ago, and two smaller fires caused damage last year.
Two years ago, the community shot to prominence when it was discovered that hundreds of residents had sold body parts, such as kidneys, to wealthy patients abroad.