MANILA, Feb, 28, 2024 (BSS/Xinhua) - A 60-year-old father, a 54-year-old mother, and their two sons, aged 14 and 12, died in a fire that gutted over a dozen houses in Cebu City in the central Philippines, a city firefighter said Wednesday.

 Wendell Villanueva of the city fire office said the victims were in deep sleep when the fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

 A daughter of the couple who survived the fire told investigators that her parents and younger siblings were sleeping on the third floor of their house. She said that other family members were on the lower floors. Eight other family members were injured in the fire.

 It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze that spread fast in the residential area, affecting 30 families.