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This photo taken on December 23, 2017 shows firefighters extinguishing a fire at a shopping mall in Davao City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Thirty-seven people were believed killed in a fire that engulfed a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Davao, local authorities said on December 24. / AFP PHOTO / MANMAN DEJETO (Photo credit should read MANMAN DEJETO/AFP/Getty Images)

‘zero’ survival chance in Philippines’ mall fire

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YemenExtra

 

Dozens of people have died after a shopping mall in the Philippines went up in flames.

At least 37 people are believed to have perished after the fire took hold of the four-storey NCCC Mall on Saturday morning in the southern city of Davao.

 President Rodrigo Duterte, who is from the city, visited victims’ relatives outside the burning building on Saturday night.

He told them there was “zero” chance their family members had survived, witnesses said.

The fire came after about 200 people were killed by a tropical stormwhich displaced tens of thousands of people, mainly in the south, over the past few days.

Massive plumes of smoke poured out of the Davao mall
Image:Massive plumes of smoke poured out of the Davao mall

Flames were eventually brought under control early on Sunday morning but fire officials said they had not yet entered the section where they believed the missing were trapped.

The top floor was home to a 24-hour call centre for US multinational market research company SSI.

Firefighters could not enter the top floor as the fire made it too dangerous
Image:Firefighters could not enter the top floor as the fire made it too dangerous

Retired seaman Jimmy Quimsing was waiting to hear about his 25-year-old son Jim Benedict who worked at the call centre and had not been in contact since the fire broke out.

He said he spoke to President Duterte who told him to prepare for the worst.

“He told us zero, no one would survive under these circumstances,” Mr Quimsing said.

Firefighters desperately tried to put out the fire
Image:Firefighters desperately tried to put out the fire

Honeyfritz Alagano, Davao’s fire marshal, said the blaze may have started on the third floor in a furniture department.

He said: “One of our firemen here has a kid who is an (call centre) agent in there. He told us some of them went to collect their stuff at their lockers and were trapped.

“The mall is an enclosed space with no ventilation. When our firemen tried to enter they were pushed back by smoke and fire.”

There are few to no fire safety standards in the Philippines and massive fires are not uncommon.

Sky news Report

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