ANGELES, Philippines (AP) — A nine-story building under construction in a city north of the Philippine capital collapsed before dawn on Sunday, leaving at least one Malaysian tourist dead and at least 21 mostly workers trapped in the rubble, officials said. Two were located alive but could not be immediately extricated.
At least 24 workers either managed to dash out of the building, where they mostly slept on the ground floor, or were rescued after the it crumbled to the ground around 2:30 a.m. in a crowded neighborhood of budget hotels, cafes, spas and rural houses outside a former U.S. Air Force base, officials said.
A Malaysian tourist died and another guest was injured in a lodging house, which was partly hit by debris from the collapsing building in Angeles City in Pampanga province, Fire Superintendent Maria Lea Sajili said.
Relatives of those trapped under concrete slabs, twisted iron bars and aluminum scaffoldings and other debris prayed and wept as they waited for word from about 700 rescuers gingerly scouring the rubble pail to create space for them to safely move into the collapsed structure.
“This is the worst day of our lives,” Joamel Angcao, an 18-year-old student, told The Associated Press as she and other siblings waited for word on their parents, who were among those trapped.
Her parents were tending to their food and coffee cart positioned beside the building when it tumbled down. The parents had struggled through poverty to send her and another sibling to school, Angcao said, tears welling in her eyes.
John Carlo Villarente, a young plumber, said that he stepped out of the building about two hours before it collapsed after heavy rains and fierce wind to have a drink.
“I was so shocked, there were people inside, including my nephew,” Villarente told The AP. “We ran and tried to help but we were not allowed to ger near because people said it was very dangerous.”
Randy Alapide, a 41-year-old plumber who was off-duty when the accident unfolded, said he rushed back to the scene and helped rescuers locate trapped workers by drawing a map to pinpoint their location. “I know three of the missing. They are breadwinners and they have families waiting for them,” Alapide said.
Sajili said two of the trapped workers were located alive by rescuers but it was taking time to pluck them out safely. Ambulance vans, firefighters and police lined up waiting for the two to be extricated.
Nearly 200 police officers were helping in the rescue, which would proceed overnight “until all are accounted for,” regional police director Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez said.
Angeles City hosted one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside of the American mainland until it closed in the early 1990s, helping develop Angeles and outlying cities and towns into entertainment and commercial hubs in the main northern Philippine region of Luzon.
The former American air base, now a bustling industrial and tourism enclave called the Clark Freeport Zone, lies about about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila.