Two persons, including a six-yearold boy, died past midnight Sunday while two women and three children were injured when a one-and-a-half fire allegedly triggered by pyrotechnics storage explosion razed two residential houses inside a compound in Maragondon, Cavite.

Everyone was asleep when the explosion happened, it was learned. The explosion was so strong it was heard at the municipal fire station which is about one kilometer away, fire officials said. The blast occurred at Pasong Buwaya in Barangay San Miguel-B.

The fatalities were identified as Salvador Olipan and his grandson Saul Arbias III who would have turned six on December 26.

Wounded were Arbias’ brothers Harold7, and Jimboy 4, their mother Nini, the elder Olipan’s wife Vilma, and relative Joel Olipan, 4. The Olipan family, are from Iloilo, were in Cavite to spend their Christmas season with their relatives.

The elder Olipan succumbed to suffocation when he and Vilma were trapped in the bathroom, the officials said. He was declared dead on arrival at San Lorenzo Hospital in neighboring Naic town.

The young Arbias died on the spot.

He sustained severe head and body burns.

Harold, Jimboy, Nini, and Vilma, who suffered body injuries, were treated at the San Lorenzo Hospital.

Senior Fire Officer 4 Rafael Eblamo, Maragondon fire marshal, and Fire Officer 1 Rene Cayas, fire investigator, said that one Lida Camacho, a businesswoman, was liable for the explosion and fire.

Camacho was allegedly selling firecrackers and the pyrotechnics without business permit. She left the exploding materials unattended in her house, said the two officials.

Initial investigation showed that the pyrotechnics were stored in a room beside a bungalow-type house occupied by the Arabias and the Olipans. Only a wall divided the room and the house, it was gathered.

No one was in the house, where the stockroom is, when the fire broke out.

Cayas said that the explosion blew off the young Arbias as he was sleeping on a cot near the wall before his body was burned.

“Nasabugan muna yung bata bago siya nasunog,” said Cayas.

The elder Olipan was suffocated by smoke when he and Vilma ran to the bathroom. The other victims were able to get out before the fire engulfed their house.