Manila DRRM Office
A fire has torn through a coastal town in the Philippine capital, destroying a thousand homes and sending smoke billowing into the sky.
Military helicopters doused the raging orange flames which had taken hold of the closely built slum area of Isla Puting Bato in Manila, on Sunday.
Manila Fire District said around 1,000 houses were burned in the blaze, which is believed to have started on the second floor of one of the homes at around 8am local time.
Drone footage shared online by the city’s disaster agency showed houses in the densely populated Tondo region razed to the ground.
Other videos showed improvised buildings, stretching into Manila Bay on stilts and walkways, engulfed in flames.
There were no immediate reports of casualties but around 2,000 families have been displaced, according to the fire department.
Resident Leonila Abiertas, 65, lost almost all her possessions but managed to save her late husband’s ashes.
“I only got the urn with the ashes of my husband,” Ms Abiertas said, adding: “I really don’t know how I can start my life again after this fire.”
Some residents were seen escaping out to sea on boats and improvised flotation devices, putting as many belongings as they could onto makeshift rafts before abandoning their homes.
Fire and disaster services deployed 36 trucks and four fire boats while the country’s air force sent in helicopters to help extinguish the fire.
The Philippine Air Force said it had deployed a Black Hawk, B205 and Sokol helicopter to conduct “heli-bucket operations”.
“That area is fire-prone since most of the houses there are made of light materials,” said firefighter Geanelli Nunez.
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