Search operations shift to retrieval as rescuers detect no signs of life in collapsed Pampanga building
By Chito Chavez
Search and rescue efforts have officially ended with efforts now shifted to retrieval operations as no signs of life were found beneath the debris of the collapsed building in Angeles City, Pampanga, authorities stated on Tuesday, May 26.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and local government unit (LGU) said that 18 people are believed to be trapped under the rough fragments of stones, bricks and concrete based on the accounts of the relatives of the trapped individuals.
Angeles City government’s public information office chief Jose “Jay” Pelayo IV said the Unified Command System announced at around 8:27 p.m. on Monday the termination of rescue operations after the final assessment.
Reports disclosed that the body of a Malaysian national and three others have been found from the rubble of the nine-storey collapsed condominium project.
On Monday, hopes remained up when thermal sensors detected what rescue officials described as "signs of life" in one area of the wreckage.
However, BFP spokesperson Maria Leah Sajili noted that no survivors or bodies were subsequently found.
The Malaysian man, who was a guest in the hotel and the two construction workers were all found trapped but alive on Sunday but eventually succumbed to injuries before being pulled out.
Authorities said that the fourth confirmed fatality has not yet been identified.
Sajili said that most of the remaining missing were construction workers who were sleeping at the site at the time.
Local local officials said that up to 70 people were employed at the construction site but most of them had gone home for the weekend.
The cause of the collapse of the structure has not yet been determined.