Fire Races Through Philippine Mall, Dozens Feared Trapped, Dead
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine officials say a fire gutted a shopping mall in a southern city and some two dozen employees may have been trapped inside.
The fire sent thick black smoke into the air and people scrambling to get out.
At least 37 people are missing or feared dead.
President Rodrigo Duterte and Roman Catholic Church officials visited the site late Saturday to meet with relatives of the trapped office employees and asked them to pray.
The mall's marketing manager, Janna Abdullah Mutalib, says the fire started Saturday morning at the third floor where clothes, appliances and furniture are sold.
A Philippine official says firefighters have recovered one body from a burning shopping mall and there is "zero" chances of survival for 36 other people trapped inside the four-story building in southern Davao city.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said Sunday firefighters told distraught 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 black smoke in the building.
It is unclear when firefighters can break into most areas of the mall, where the blaze was put under control Sunday morning although smoke continued to billow from the popular shopping venue.
Duterte-Carpio says firefighters won't stop until they find all those reported missing
The fire comes as the country is reeling from a storm that hit Davao and flooded parts of the city, causing landslides and killing dozens of people.
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