Kentex slipper factory fire
| Date | May 13, 2015 |
|---|---|
| Location | Valenzuela, Philippines |
| Coordinates | 14°42′11″N 120°58′36″E / 14.703105°N 120.9765771°ECoordinates: 14°42′11″N 120°58′36″E / 14.703105°N 120.9765771°E |
| Deaths | 74 dead |
| Third worst fire incident in the Philippine history | |
On May 13, 2015, a fire broke out at the Kentex Manufacturing factory in Valenzuela, Philippines. Seventy-four people were killed in the fire, making the incident the third worst fire incident in Philippine history after the Ozone Disco Club fire in 1996 and the Manor Hotel fire in Quezon City in 2001 killed 162 and 75 people, respectively.
Kentex is a small manufacturer of flip flops and other rubber shoes located in Valenzuela City, a northern suburb of Manila, Philippines. It is one of many similar businesses serving the local market in a poor area of town.
On May 13, 2015, a fire broke out when welding sparks ignited chemicals being stored near the entrance of the Kentex Manufacturing factory. It is possible, although unconfirmed, that the weld was being performed on the doors of one of the main entrances to the building. Thick, black smoke engulfed the building as rubber and chemicals burned. The fire spread quickly and few people escaped. Unable to leave, trapped workers retreated to the second floor and attempted to call relatives for help.
It took five hours for the fire department to get the blaze under control. The fire left the building unstable, causing a delay in the retrieval of the dead while engineers secured the building.
At least 74 people were killed in the fire. Most of the victims likely suffocated to death from the smoke. Many bodies were badly burnt, being "reduced to skulls and bones" in some cases. Seventy-three of the 74 bodies were found on the factory's second floor. The Barangay Maysan village hall was converted into a temporary morgue to store the dead.
On May 14, Valenzuela City fire chief Mel Jose Lagan and senior inspector Ed-Groover Oculam were placed on administrative leave as authorities investigated possible wrongdoing. Before the announcement, Lagan was adamant that local firefighters had not been negligent. He said that the arson unit would look into how the workers became trapped, saying that there were sufficient exits to the building.
Survivors of the blaze claimed that the factory had sweatshop-like conditions and blamed the large loss of life on barred windows. The workers worked for "well below minimum wage" and endured foul smells, according to family of the victims and The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. Pay was dependent on the number of shoes produced, creating wages as little as 300 pesos (US$6.70) in a 12-hour day (minimum wage is 481 pesos). Other survivors said that the company was not making required social security and health insurance payments. A survivor who escaped from the first floor remarked, "They were screaming for help, holding on to the bars. When we could no longer see their hands, we knew they had died ... they died because they were trapped on the second floor." Another survivor remarked, "We were running not knowing exactly where to go ... if people had known what to do, it would have been different."
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Wikipedia