Philippine firefighters recovered one body from a burning shopping mall Sunday and said there was “zero” chance of survival for 36 other people who got trapped inside the four-story building in southern Davao City, an official said.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said firefighters told relatives of the 36 trapped employees of a business-outsourcing company at the top floor of the NCCC Mall that nobody could survive the extreme heat and thick smoke. “They were told that the chances of survival are zero,” she said.
Firefighters got the blaze under control Sunday morning, although smoke continued to billow from the building and they are yet to access some parts of the mall. An investigation into the cause of the blaze will be conducted, said Ms. Duterte-Carpio, who is the daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
The mall’s marketing manager, Janna Abdullah Mutalib, said the fire started Saturday morning on the third floor, where clothes, appliances and furniture are sold, after a storm hit Davao and flooded parts of the city. Many areas of the mall were closed to the public when the fire started midmorning, preventing a bigger tragedy amid the peak Christmas shopping season.
Mr. Duterte served as Davao City mayor for many years before being elected president last year.
A tropical storms that hit the southern Philippines on Saturday reportedly left more than 120 people dead and at least 160 others missing.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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