1.
LV Fire engines and crowd in the commercial district of Manila.
0.05

2.
LV Hoses being played over burning played over burning building.
0.11

3.
SV Another fire engine arrives.
0.14

4.
SV PAN UP Firemen using hoses on burning buildings (2 shots)
0.27

5.
CU Fire Chief using walkie-talkie.
0.30

6.
LV PAN FROM smoke TO firemen around tender (2 shots)
0.37

7.
GV PAN DOWN FROM ladder TO firemen around tender with lights flashing (2 shots)
0.48

8.
SV PAN and LV Crowds watch as firemen open shuttered shots. (2 shots)
0.57



Initials EP/1735



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: At least three people are dead and as many as 35,000 have been left homeless in the wake of a massive fire which swept through a slum area of Manila, in the Philippines, on Monday.

SYNOPSIS: The blaze was the second serious fire to occur in a slum area of the capital in the past month. It came at time when an election campaign was under way during which the Government's New Society Movement was promising to upgrade housing for the thousands of slum dwellers in Manila.

It took firemen nine hours to get blaze under control, and it is estimated that it cost the city millions of dollars in damage. More than 40 people were reported injured in the fire, which officials believe was started by children playing with matches.