MANILA, Philippines — Firefighters battled a blaze for the second day Sunday at a Davao City shopping mall where some two dozen employees are feared to have been trapped in the four-story building, an official said.
It is unclear when firefighters can break into the four-story NCCC Mall in Davao City, which burned up late Saturday.
The mall’s marketing manager, Janna Abdullah Mutalib, said the fire started Saturday morning at the third floor where clothes, appliances and furniture are sold, after a storm hit Davao and flooded parts of the city.
"The fire hasn't totally been put out," Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman of the government's disaster-response agency, said.
Injured mall employees were taken to the Southern Philippines Medical Center for treatment. Details of the casualties are sketchy.
On Saturday, officials said at least 40 mall employees were still missing. Most of them were employees of SSI Philippines Inc., a business process outsourcing company, believed to be trapped on the fourth floor of the building.
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. Duterte served as Davao City mayor for many years before being elected to the presidency last year. — with AP