A senior citizen was burned to death in a dawn fire that struck Sitio OPRRA Unit 1, Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
The victim was identified as Sozimo Apacio, 78 years old.
His house was razed to the ground in a fire that broke out at past 2 a.m.
It was believed that Apacio tried to get out of his room, but got suffocated by the fumes.
He was with his niece and other relatives in the house but the latter raced to get out the moment they woke up to the blaze.
Rizalina Mendes, a niece, said that they could have been burned to death as well because of a jammed door lock that took time to open.
Another two houses were damaged partially in the said fire.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Cebu’s investigation on the cause of the fire is ongoing, as of this writing.
The fire left behind approximately P160,000 in damages, according to Senior Fire Officer 2 Wendell Villanueva, spokesperson of the Cebu City Fire Station.