QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Fire swept through a six-story budget hotel before dawn Saturday, killing at least 68 people, many trapped in their rooms by anti-burglar bars, firefighters said. Some victims had been attending a religious convention sponsored by a U.S.-based ministry.
The blaze at the Manor Hotel in Quezon City was the country's deadliest at a hotel ever and the worst fire in the Philippines since a flames swept through the Manila Ozone discotheque in 1996 and killed 160 people.
A large number of the dead were packed into bathrooms after apparently trying to escape the flames and smoke, they said. Several more people were injured.
About 170 hotel guests were attending the convention in Manila sponsored by Don Clowers Ministry of Irving, Texas, local officials and ministry spokesmen said. It wasn't immediately clear how many were among the victims or if any foreigners were killed.
Firefighters said they recovered 68 bodies, but were still searching rooms for more victims.
Many victims were trapped by intense smoke in hallways and by windows covered with ornate white iron bars, a common anti-burglar device. One fire official said 18 people were rescued by firefighters who sawed through the bars. Two people attempted to jump off from the building but were pulled to safety.
Pastor Resty Cruz of the Philippines said 172 participants in the Don Clowers conference were checked in at the hotel. He said he had only accounted for 80 of them, several injured, as of two hours after the fire was extinguished.
Brett Boyd, youth pastor at the ministry's Grace Church in Irving, a Dallas suburb, said Don Clowers, his wife Sharon and their son David were attending the Manila event.