70 confirmed dead in hotel fire

Fire swept through a six-storey budget hotel in the Philiipines before dawn today, killing at least 70 people and injuring 54 others as anti-burglar bars on the windows blocked escape from deadly smoke, officials said.

Two people survived by jumping from the building.

Many of the victims were staying at the Manor Hotel in Quezon City, while attending a Christian crusade sponsored by the Texas-based Don Clowers Ministries.

Several Americans came for the Destiny Conference, but it appeared no foreigners were among the casualties.

Police lined up 66 bodies in four rows at a nearby basketball court, covered them with straw mats, took fingerprints and put them in body bags after they were identified. Some of the victims wore conference badges.

The concrete building was thought to have been built in the late 1970s and may have been damaged by fire before, according to local officials. They said it was apparently not designed as a hotel and had some permanent occupants.

Many fire exits were blocked, locked or led to dead ends, and there appeared to be no fire alarms or emergency lights, said Danilo Cabrera, of the Bureau of Fire Protection.

At one point, officials said 75 people had died, but Cabrera said some had been double-counted in the initial confusion.

Virtually all of the victims died of smoke inhalation and suffocation.

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

‘‘There were people hanging out of the windows crying out to be rescued.’’

The ornate white iron bars are a common anti-burglar device in Manila. Eighteen people were rescued when firefighters sawed through the bars. Two people attempted to jump off from the building but were stopped and rescued. Two others did jump and survived, including one who landed on a concrete canopy.

Police said the hotel had 236 registered guests, with 172 attending the crusade. Rooms went for about 1,000 pesos (less than £14) per night, but some guests said they spent as little as 300 pesos (£4) for a bed.

Associated Press photographer Pat Roque, one of the first journalists on the scene, said mattresses covered the floors of rooms on the third floor, indicating many people were jam-packed into each room.

Bodies were piled up in bathrooms, where victims tried to escape the smoke. Many were still in their bedclothes.

Eugene Schwebler, 60, from Wisconsin, said he tried to flee his fourth-floor room but heat turned him back. He pulled the air conditioner out of the wall for access to the fire escape.

‘‘I don’t know how many came out,’’ he said, holding a candle as he returned to get his belongings. ‘‘The lights went out and we heard people screaming.’’

Schwebler said he thought the fire started in a restaurant on the third floor, site of the worst damage.

About 8,000 people were at the religious conference today, waving their arms in the air, singing and praying for victims and their families.

Don Clowers, attending with his wife and son, asked for donations for the victims and said he would pick up expenses related to the fire. His evangelical ministry is popular with the Philippines’ rural poor.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited survivors in one hospital, then tried to console relatives of victims whose bodies were taken later to a police camp.

‘‘She told me that I can be assured of assistance from the government, but she did not specify what help,’’ said Purita Legazpi, whose cousin died in the fire.

Elmerio Pimentel, a 26-year-old security guard in an adjacent building, said he saw smoke coming from an exhaust fan at 3.50am (2050 Irish Time Friday) and fired three warning shots, then heard what sounded like an explosion.

The blaze was extinguished about two hours later.

Nivart Ulayo, a volunteer firefighter, said he arrived at 4.30am and the building was already engulfed in smoke, with victims screaming from the rooms where they were trapped.

Belmonte said the first two floors of the hotel were used as offices. He said firefighters were unable to immediately search one floor for bodies because the fire badly weakened the structure. Soldiers were brought in later to help.

Belmonte said the hotel had been warned of inadequate fire safety. Interior Secretary Joel Lina said authorities were investigating for fire code violations. The Quezon City fire chief was relieved of duties immediately.

A 1996 fire at the Ozone discotheque in Manila killed 160 people.