[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
[/av_textblock]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’37 bodies in Davao mall blaze found Duterte assures victims’ kin of gov’t aid ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY AP, AFP and PRINCE GOLEZ
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
DAVAO City – Firefighters have found all 37 bodies of employees of a United States-based company who were trapped in a blaze that gutted a shopping mall.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said firefighters initially found one body at the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) Mall on Sunday but extreme heat and thick smoke prevented them from retrieving the bodies of the 36 other employees until Monday.
Senior Superintendent Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan Tiu, regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection, relayed the news to the employees’ relatives, who were told the bodies would be identified by authorities then turned over to their families.
“I personally counted them before I gave the information to our honorable mayor…around 36 in number,” Kwan Tiu told weeping relatives, who clutched long-stemmed white flowers as they attended a mass.
Duterte-Carpio and Tiu spoke at a mass outside the burned mall, where the fire broke out Saturday morning on the third floor, where clothes, appliances and furniture are sold.
“As the ground commander of this operation, my deepest apology for I was not able to save them,” said the fire official, who joined a search inside the building at midday.
All the dead were employees at a call center on the top floor of the four-story mall and run by US-based Research Now SSI, which employs about 500 people.
Its chief executive officer, Gary Laben, said the company would help with funeral arrangements and create a fund for contributions for the victims’ families.
“This terrible tragedy has left us with heavy hearts,” Laben said in a statement on their website. “We offer our condolences and prayers to the families and loved ones of the victims.”
The fire started after a storm hit Davao and flooded parts of the city.
Except for a grocery store on the ground floor and the call center on the top floor, the shopping areas were still closed to the public when the fire started midmorning, preventing a bigger tragedy amid the peak Christmas shopping season.
Authorities ordered a criminal investigation as allegations surfaced of locked or nonexistent fire exits at the building, which its administrators denied.
“By punishing those responsible, we can set an example to others so that hopefully there will be no repetition of those tragedies,” Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said in a statement.
Mall operators denied the claims.
“There is no truth to that allegation. In fact as per accounts of those who got out, they were able get out through the fire exit,” Thea Padua, the mall’s public relations officer, said by text message.
PREZ’S HELP
President Rodrigo Duterte went to the scene of the fire and met with relatives of the trapped office employees late Saturday.
The chief executive served as mayor of this city for many years before being elected to the presidency last year.
Assuring the families of the victims of a thorough investigation, President Duterte told them he has directed the authorities to create an interagency body that will look into the incident.
“Now I will assure you that I will call the investigators of NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), police, and Bureau of Fire (Protection),” he said.
Scene of the crime operatives will participate in the probe, said President Duterte.
He promised that there will be no cover-up and that the government will provide the bereaved families financial support.
“Maybe the compensation and the expenses are answered. Pero ako nag-commit na ako that the government is willing to chip in,” said the President.
RESCUERS CRITICIZED
The city fire marshal described the shopping mall as “an enclosed space with no ventilation,” though the authorities said they had yet to determine the cause of the blaze.
Deadly blazes occur regularly in the country, particularly in slum areas where there are virtually no fire safety standards.
Corruption and exploitation mean supposedly strict fire standards are often not enforced.
Some relatives of those missing earlier criticized rescuers for what they felt was the slow pace of recovery efforts.
“They seem so relaxed,” said Jolita Basalan, weeping as she waited for news of her 29-year-old son Jonas who worked at the call center.
“They are not pained because they don’t have a child there. They told us to come here but no one is moving,” she said.
With low wages but strong English-language skills, the Philippines is a popular destination for international companies to set up customer call centers./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
