Hotel collapse under construction leaves 4 dead and 17 missing in the Philippines

Sniffer dog helps rescue teams find victims in the rubble of the unfinished hotel in the Philippines.
Aaron Favila / AP
Rescue teams pulled three workers in the early hours of Monday (25) from a huge pile of rubble that used to be a nine-story hotel, which collapsed while under construction in a city in the north of the Philippines, bringing the death toll to three, with another 17 people remaining missing, authorities said.
One of the workers was already taken away lifeless, while emergency personnel struggled in the early morning hours to revive the other inside an ambulance near the pile of concrete slabs, twisted iron bars and aluminum scaffolding that remained from the building in the city of Angeles, in the province of Pampanga. They eventually gave up and drove off.
The heartbreaking scene was witnessed by a small group of journalists, including those from The Associated Press, who watched hundreds of rescuers led by firefighters and police struggle for hours to free the two workers, who at the time were alive but trapped under concrete slabs and iron bars.
Rescuers attempted to administer water and medication intravenously to one of the workers trapped in the rubble in a desperate effort to keep him alive in the heat scorching summer weather, regional police chief Brigadier General Jess Mendez told AP.
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"He did not survive despite all efforts," he said.
The fourth fatal victim is a Malaysian tourist trapped in a budget guesthouse that was partially hit by the avalanche of debris from the collapsed building. Another guest at the inn was injured but managed to run out, authorities said.
A day after the collapse of the unfinished building, which collapsed with a violent crash after a strong storm, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin said rescue efforts would not yet be changed to a body recovery operation.
"My biggest hope is that we can get more people out alive," Lazatin told the AP. "We don't want to give any bad news to the families of the trapped workers."
Anxiety and fear among relatives of the trapped workers, waiting in shelters near the rubble, has deepened.
"I'm losing hope because of what I see - slow rescue work," said Lea Mendoza Casilao, a 47-year-old sardine factory worker whose boyfriend, a construction worker, was among those still trapped in the rubble.
Rescuers stand beside the ruins as search operations continue at a collapsed building in the city of Angeles.
Aaron Favila / AP
She had brought a week's worth of rice and sardines for him at the construction site, but said they would never meet as planned over the weekend after the building where he was sleeping collapsed before dawn on Sunday.
Lazatin said rescuers were moving cautiously because large concrete slabs were being precariously supported by a tangle of aluminum scaffolding and could collapse on rescuers.
Twenty-six workers were rescued or managed to run out of the collapsing building, where they slept on pieces of plywood on the ground floor.

Of the 17 workers still missing, one has been located but has not yet been pulled from the rubble, authorities said.
National police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said his corporation will support an "ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the incident and possible violations of safety and construction regulations."
The city of Angeles was home to one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside of U.S. territory, helping to transform Angeles and the surrounding cities and towns in commercial and entertainment hubs in the Philippines' main northern region of Luzon.
Rescuers continue search operations at a collapsed building in the Philippines
Aaron Favila / AP
Clark Air Base, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila, was closed in the early 1990s.
The former American base became a bustling industrial and tourist enclave called the Clark Free Zone, and is still fenced off by traces of red-light districts, bars, nightclubs, tattoo parlors and cheap hotels from the time of the US base.

Source: G1

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