ANGELES, Philippines (AP) — Rescue operations on Monday extricated three individuals from the extensive debris of a nine-story hotel under construction in a northern Philippine city, elevating the confirmed fatalities to four, with 17 others yet to be located, according to officials. Two of those recovered were deceased, while emergency responders made valiant efforts in the early morning to revive a third person within an ambulance, amidst the jumbled concrete slabs, twisted reinforcing bars, and aluminum scaffolding that constituted the wreckage in Angeles City, Pampanga Province. Their attempts were ultimately unsuccessful. Journalist observers, including those from The Associated Press, witnessed the intense scene as hundreds of firefighters and police-led rescuers toiled for hours to extract the men, who had been alive but trapped beneath concrete and metal. Regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez informed the AP that rescuers had attempted to provide intravenous water and medication to one entrapped man in a desperate bid to sustain him in the extreme summer heat. “He never made it despite all the efforts,” Mendez stated. Jay Pelayo, Angeles city information chief, confirmed that one of the three individuals rescued on Monday was unidentified and not among the 17 missing, who are predominantly construction workers. The fourth deceased individual was identified as a Malaysian tourist, caught in a budget inn partially impacted by the cascade of debris from the collapsed structure. Another guest at the inn sustained injuries but managed to escape, officials reported. A day after the unfinished building dramatically collapsed following a severe thunderstorm, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin emphasized that rescue efforts would persist, not transitioning into a body retrieval operation. “My best hope is that we can rescue more people alive,” Lazatin told the AP. “We don’t want to give the families of the trapped workers any bad news.” Relatives of the missing workers, waiting in nearby shelters, are experiencing escalating anxiety and fear. Lea Mendoza Casilao, a 47-year-old sardine factory worker whose mason boyfriend is among those still trapped, expressed her dwindling hope due to the perceived slowness of the rescue operation. She recounted bringing a week’s supply of rice and sardines for him at the construction site, a meeting that never materialized after the building, where he was sleeping, crumbled before dawn on Sunday. Lazatin explained that rescuers were proceeding with caution because massive concrete slabs were precariously supported by a tangle of aluminum scaffolding, posing a significant risk of further collapse. Twenty-six workers were either rescued or managed to flee the collapsing building, where they had been sleeping on plywood sheets on the ground floor. National police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. affirmed that his force would support an “ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the incident and possible violations of safety and building regulations.” Angeles City, historically home to one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside the American mainland, evolved into a prominent entertainment and commercial hub in the northern Philippine region of Luzon. Clark Air Base, approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila, closed in the early 1990s. The former base has since become a thriving industrial and tourism area known as the Clark Freeport Zone, still surrounded by remnants of its U.S. base-era red-light districts, bars, nightclubs, tattoo parlors, and budget hotels.
