Rescue workers are racing against time as they search for more than 20 people trapped in a building under construction in the Philippines that collapsed in the early hours of Sunday, local officials said.
High temperatures and the lack of proper equipment are hampering the effort, with emergency workers communicating with at least two workers caught under debris at the site in Angeles City, north of the capital Manila, according to Fire Superintendent Maria Leah Sajili.
¡°We need special equipment to extricate and save them,¡± she told reporters.
An estimated 23 people are trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building, based on the list of the people at the construction site that were scheduled to work on Sunday, she said. Twenty-four workers were rescued earlier, 10 of whom were taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, a Malaysian national who was staying at a hotel damaged by the collapse of the building has died, with rescue workers retrieving his body on Sunday, according to a Facebook post by the Bureau of Fire Protection.
Construction on the the nine-story building, a hybrid condominium hotel, involved adding a 10th floor with a swimming pool, according to Sajili. The cause of the collapse is under investigation, she said.
The project secured a building permit in 2023 and construction began in 2024, Jay Pelayo, head of Angeles City¡¯s information office, said. He earlier told local radio DZBB that around 30-40 people were feared trapped in the block.
Pelayo said the rescue operation for those trapped is ongoing. ¡°Let¡¯s continue to pray for all of them,¡± he said.
In 2015, two people were killed and 11 were injured after a portion of a residential tower under construction caved in at Taguig City, a financial district in Manila.
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