Thirty-seven employees on the mall’s top floor were trapped inside when the blaze erupted.
Courtesy Otto van Dacula via Reuters
At least 37 people were killed after a fire tore through a Philippine shopping mall late Saturday, leaving employees of a call center trapped behind a wall of flames. Authorities said one body was recovered from the NCCC Mall in Davao, and there was “zero” chance of survival for the 36 others trapped inside. “Let us pray for them,” said Paolo Duterte, the vice mayor of Davao and President Rodrigo Duterte’s oldest son. The fire erupted in a furniture store on the mall’s third level, leaving an outsourcing business on the floor above engulfed in flames. Firefighters had gotten the blaze under control Sunday but work was still underway to recover the bodies. An investigation has been opened into the cause of the fire.
