13 dead in Philippines hotel fire

MANILA - At least 13 people were killed Sunday when a fire razed a budget hotel in a northern Philippine city, a provincial police chief said.

Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca said the death toll could rise to 15 at the Bed and Breakfast Pension House in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province, 355 km north of Manila.

Aplasca said rescuers had taken 13 bodies from the hotel to a nearby funeral home for identification by relatives.

“Search is continuing for at least two more people believed trapped in the hotel,” he said.

Twelve other people were injured in the predawn fire that started on the ground floor of the five-storey hotel.

Most of the guests were nursing students who were to take licensing examinations in the city Sunday, Aplasca said.