Window Bars Blamed in Philippine Fire Toll

Investigators were looking at a possible short-circuit as the cause of a fire in a budget hotel that killed at least 70 people and injured 54 others Saturday, trapping them between deadly smoke in the corridors and barred windows in their rooms.

Most of the victims at the six-story Manor Hotel in suburban Manila were attending a religious conference sponsored by a U.S.-based evangelical group. Nearly all the fatalities were blamed on smoke inhalation or suffocation.

Firefighters frantically cut the white ornate bars with torches and saws to rescue 18 people, and two other victims jumped to safety.

But rescue workers found bodies piled up in the bathrooms, where victims sought refuge from the predawn blaze, and sprawled across broken glass by the windows, where they pleaded for help before succumbing.

The hotel’s owner was being sought as officials said the security bars, lack of fire alarms and inadequate escape routes may have contributed to the deaths.

“Without a doubt there would have been more people rescued if there had been no iron grilles on the windows,” Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte said.

The hotel had 236 registered guests--172 taking part in a Christian crusade sponsored by the Irving, Texas-based Don Clowers Ministries, police said. No foreigners were believed to be among the casualties.