A 5-year-old girl was killed and at least 4,000 people were left homeless by a fire that razed hundreds of shanties in the Philippine capital, officials said Sunday.Arson investigators said they were looking into reports that the fire broke out Saturday evening when a couple threw gas lamps at each other during a heated argument in their shanty.

Three people were also injured in the fire in the 52-hectare Baseco Compound in Manila's slum district of Tondo, according to Chief Inspector Bonifaco Carta, head of the Manila fire department.

Carta said 500 shanties were razed when the fire spread quickly through the tight cluster of homes made from light materials.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2010