MANILA: Fire swept through a shopping mall in the
Philippines killing at least 37 people, most of them workers at a call
centre, city government officials said on Sunday.
The
vice mayor of the southern city of Davao, Paolo Duterte, said the chance
of survival for any of the 37 people missing at the NCC Mall was
“zero”.
“Let us pray for them,” said Duterte, the eldest son of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The
fire broke out on Saturday at a furniture store on the mall’s third
level and quickly engulfed an outsourcing business on the upper floor,
said a spokeswoman for the city government, Ma. Teresita Gaspan, The
cause was not known but an investigation was being launched, she said.
President Duterte and his daughter, Sara Duterte, who
is mayor of the city, visited the scene late on Saturday to meet anxious
relatives of the missing and survivors.
Six people were rescued and taken to hospital.
Meanwhile,
rescuers in the Philippines searched on Sunday for survivors of a storm
that triggered floods and landslides and killed about 200 people, left
scores missing and thousands homeless, most of whom apparently ignored
warnings to move to safety.The Philippines is battered by about 20
typhoons a year and warnings are routinely issued, but the level of
destruction wreaked by tropical storm Tembin on the southern island of
Mindanao from late on Friday came as a surprise.“It happened very fast,
the flood waters quickly rose filling our house,” farmer Felipe
Ybarsabal, 65, said, adding he and his family had to run to higher
ground.
“We weren’t able to save anything from the house.
There was no help from anyone because it was so fast. Everything was
two to three metres under water in less than an hour.”
Police
and disaster officials said they expected the toll of about 200 dead to
rise with more fatalities likely to be discovered in remote farm
communities and coastal areas, as rescuers reached them and restored
communication and power links.
Disaster officials said 159 people were listed as missing while about 70,000 had been forced from their homes.
Soldiers
and police joined emergency workers and volunteers to search for
survivors and victims, clear debris and restore power and
communications.
Disaster officials said many villagers
had ignored warnings to leave coastal areas and move away from
riverbanks, and got swept away when flash floods and landslides struck.
