A fire left 15 people dead, including six children, early Saturday at a public market in the Philippines, the Philippines News Agency reported. Thirteen others were injured .
The fire destroyed 350 stalls, mostly used clothing shops, and caused heavy damage to a three-story commercial building in Zamboanga, Dominador Zabala Jr., the city fire marshal, told the official news agency.
The fire began around 2:45 a.m. Saturday in one of the stalls and quickly spread, Zabala told the agency.
A spark from an electric post is believed to have caused the fire, the Philippines News Agency reported.
Some stalls were constructed illegally, Zamboanga Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said. She told the agency that some of the dead and injured were staying in the stalls.
Burn victims were taken to hospitals but will be transferred to the Mindanao Central Sanitarium “so that they will be given better medical assistance,” she told the agency.