4 dead, 17 mostly workers still missing, in collapse of unfinished hotel in the Philippines
ANGELES, Philippines (AP) — Rescuers rescued three people from a massive pile of rubble on Monday. nine story hotel Officials said that the death toll from a building that collapsed while under construction in a city in the north of the Philippines has risen to four, and 17 people are still missing.
Two of the men died, while emergency personnel struggled to resuscitate one in an ambulance in the early morning hours near a pile of concrete slabs, twisted iron rods and aluminum scaffolding that were all that remained of the building in Angeles City, Pampanga Province. Finally they gave up and walked away.
This touching scene was witnessed by a small group of journalists, including the Associated Press; He watched hundreds of rescuers, led by firefighters and police, struggle for hours to save the men, who were alive at the time but trapped under concrete slabs and iron bars.
Rescuers tried to provide intravenous water and medicine to one of the trapped men to help him survive the scorching summer heat, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez told the AP.
“Despite all efforts, he could not achieve this,” he said.
One of the three people pulled from the rubble Monday was not identified and was not listed among the 17 missing, most of whom were construction workers, according to Angeles City information chief Jay Pelayo.
The fourth dead victim was a Malaysian tourist trapped in a budget inn hit by an avalanche of debris from the partially collapsed building. Another guest at the inn was injured but managed to get out, authorities said.
A day after the unfinished building collapsed with a loud crash following a severe storm, Angeles Mayor Carmelo Lazatin said rescue efforts still would not be shifted to a body-recovery operation.
“My greatest hope is that we can save more people alive,” Lazatin told the AP. “We don’t want to give bad news to the families of the stranded workers.”
The anxiety and fear among the relatives of the workers trapped in the barracks next to the rubble deepened even further.
“I’m losing hope because of what I saw – the slow pace of rescue efforts,” said Lea Mendoza Casilao, a 47-year-old sardine factory worker whose boyfriend, a bricklayer, was among those still trapped under the rubble.
He had brought a week’s supply of rice and sardines to the construction site for himself, but when the building where he was sleeping collapsed before dawn on Sunday, he said they would never be able to meet as planned for the weekend.
Lazatin said rescuers moved with caution because the huge concrete slabs were precariously lifted by the aluminum scaffolding and could fall on rescuers.
Twenty-six workers were either rescued or managed to escape from the collapsing building, where they slept on pieces of plywood on the ground floor.
National police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said his forces would support “the ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the incident and possible violations of safety and construction regulations.”
Angeles City was home to one of the largest US Air Force bases Outside of the American mainland, it is helping to transform Angeles and outlying cities and towns into entertainment and commercial centers in Luzon, the main province of the northern Philippines.
Clark Air Base, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila, closed in the early 1990s. The old base has become a bustling industrial and tourist area called the Clark Freeport Zone, still dotted with remnants of red-light strips, bars, nightclubs, tattoo shops and budget hotels from the U.S. base era.
