Farmer Dies After Being Trapped in Field Fire

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY – A 52-year-old farmer was found dead hours after burning his sugarcane field in Sitio Salay, Barangay Tan-awan, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, on Sunday.

The victim was identified as “Pepito.”

Police Capt. Sammy Gasataya, deputy chief of the Kabankalan City Police Station, said the victim left home that morning to burn sugarcane but failed to return by noon.

His family began searching for him and reported the matter to police later that night.

Gasataya said the victim’s brother found him lifeless in the sugarcane field around 1 p.m.

The victim sustained severe burns.

Gasataya said the family believes he was trapped by the fire and may have suffocated, causing him to lose consciousness.

The incident was not reported to the Bureau of Fire Protection in Kabankalan.

The fatality occurred two days after a senior citizen died in a similar sugarcane field fire in Barangay Man-uling, Cauayan, on Friday.