A truck that carried parcel of items ordered online caught fire while it was parked in Sitio Latasan, Barangay Labogon, Mandaue City at past 2 p.m. on August 14, 2024.

The 12-wheel wing van was parked and padlocked reportedly the whole time when the fire broke out.

The van contained about nine tons of items ordered online through an electronic commerce platform.

According to Ariel Gersalia, one of two drivers, they reached Cebu in the morning of August 14, 2024, after a two-day land trip from Luzon. However, the warehouse of the e-commercee company in Barangay Tingub, Mandaue City is still full so they parked the truck while waiting to be accommodated.

According to the driver and his helpmate, they observe a no-touch policy on the items. This means that they cannot touch anything inside the wing van. It is only the warehouse personnel from point of origin who are authorized to load items, and that this regulation applies in the unloading of cargo at the point of destination.

The driver stressed that the van was padlocked the whole time during the trip.

In the morning of August 15, 2024, GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak chanced upon barangay tanods (village watchmen) clearing a part of the road where some burned items were scattered. Destroyed items were segregated from the lesser damaged items.

It was observed that the items ranged from garments to accessories and household products.

Other parcels were soaked in water during the firefighting.

Residents milled in the area hoping for company representatives to give away the items to them that can still be of use.

Meanwhile, the Mandaue City Fire Station has carried out further investigation on the incident. They verified that the fire started inside the wing van and is to determine which possible item could have sparked the fire.

The Bureau of Fire Protection has placed the damage at approximately P350,000.