4 Filipino family members die in New Jersey fire

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CRISTINA DC PASTOR, Philippine News
12/19/2007 | 07:20 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us UNION, NJ — Four family members, including an elderly, perished in a savage fire, which torched their home less than two weeks before Christmas.

The blaze erupted around 2:30 a.m. in Union Township in a middle-class home near the Garden State Parkway.

The home at 962 Floyd Terrace was shared by Edgardo Aguas, 57, and his wife, Digna, 47, their daughter Emily, 14, and the child’s 86-year-old grandmother, who had arrived from Australia to celebrate the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary in October.

She had meant to stay until Christmas. The family belongs to three generations of Aguases within the two-storey residence.

The only survivor is EJ, the 21-year-old son, who jumped out of a window and is in the hospital.

Town authorities said the fire was placed under control at 5 a.m. and did not appear to be suspicious.

A Philippine News call to the Union fire department revealed the blaze may be electrical in nature, but the person on duty would not say if it had to do with lighted Christmas decorations.

Reports say the fire may have started in the basement.

The heart-rending quality of the tragedy was driven home by the fact that Emily is a swimmer who had just spent several laps at a Boy and Girls Club, according to newspaper reports.

The Star-Ledger reports that Emily’s body was found on the first floor, her mother in a bathroom, and grandmother in a closet.

The father, an engineer, managed to escape the home, but later died. About 50 firefighters from Union and neighboring towns responded and put the blaze under control. - Philippine News

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