Angeles building collapse leaves 3 dead as search for 18 continues
MANILA, Philippines — Three people were reported dead as of Monday morning, May 25, after a nine-story building collapsed in Angeles City, Pampanga, trapping workers and damaging a nearby apartelle where a Malaysian tourist was killed.
Rescue operations continued more than 24 hours after the building in Barangay Balibago collapsed around 3 a.m. Sunday, with authorities still searching for people believed to be under the rubble.
The Angeles City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported 47 victims, including 26 rescued and 18 still missing.
Fire Superintendent Maria Leah Sajili of the Bureau of Fire Protection Region 3 said the missing figure was based on a list of workers who were supposed to be at the site that day, as well as reports from families.
"Ang iba naman po dito ay reported ng family na hindi po umuwi sa kanila at nag-duty po sa kanilang trabaho," Sajili said in an interview with dzBB. (Some of them were reported by their families as not having come home after reporting for work.)
Emergency responders retrieved the body of a male victim from the rubble past midnight. He was later pronounced dead after being brought to a nearby hospital.
BFP Region 3 also said another victim showed no signs of life but had not yet been officially declared dead by doctors as of early Monday.
The first confirmed fatality was Malaysian tourist Mohd Rezal bin Abdullah, 65, who was trapped in an apartelle next to the collapsed building.
Acting Philippine fire chief Rico Kwan Tiu said the Malaysian guest had managed to communicate with rescuers by phone while pinned under a hotel wall shortly after the collapse.
"Unfortunately, when we retrieved him just now, he was already lifeless," Kwan Tiu told Agene France Presse in a report Sunday.
Kwan Tiu earlier said rescuers were trying to free two workers trapped in the collapsed building.
"They are conscious but pinned underneath," he said.
Debris hampers rescue
City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin said most people inside the building were asleep when the collapse happened before dawn.
"Almost all of them were asleep because this happened in the early hours of the morning," Lazatin told reporters.
Rescuers worked through narrow gaps in the rubble, with footage from the regional fire service showing a firefighter using a power tool to free a man trapped beneath metal tubes and plyboard.
"Relax, brother," the firefighter was heard telling the victim.
City information officer Jay Pelayo told Agence France Presse that the building's walls and scaffolding had buckled, likely trapping people under heavy debris.
"There are big chunks of concrete and we need equipment to lift them up. That is what's challenging for the rescue right now," Pelayo said.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority sent rescue equipment and police dogs to assist local teams.
"We also deployed life monitors, listening devices and also our rescue spreaders to help the rescuers since many debris need to be cut and lifted to locate people," MMDA general manager Nicolas Torre told AFP.
Building owner identified
The Angeles City government identified the building owner as Jackson Lim, while Golden Years Construction was named as the contractor.
Sajili said the owner and contractor were already coordinating with the local government.
The cause of the collapse has yet to be determined.
Delivery rider James Bernardo, who had just dropped off food on the same street before the collapse, told AFP he heard a loud noise moments later.
"A few seconds later, there was suddenly a loud noise in the area, and when I looked, I realised that the building had already collapsed," Bernardo said.
"Thank God I'm safe," he added. — with Ted Aljibe / Agence France Presse
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