A devastating building collapse at a nine-story hotel under construction in Angeles City, Pampanga province, has left three people dead and 17 more missing after rescuers pulled two trapped workers from a massive concrete and steel rubble pile early Monday, Philippine officials have confirmed. \n\nHundreds of emergency responders led by local fire departments and police spent hours working to extract the two construction workers, who were trapped alive beneath fallen concrete slabs and twisted rebar when the structure fell early Sunday. A small group of journalists, including Associated Press reporters, witnessed the harrowing scene: one worker was pulled from the rubble deceased, while emergency crews attempted to resuscitate the second inside an ambulance parked at the edge of the debris field, which is made up of crumpled concrete, mangled iron and buckled aluminum scaffolding. After prolonged resuscitation efforts, crews ultimately declared the second worker dead and departed the site. \n\nRegional Philippine Police Chief Brigadier General Jess Mendez told the AP that in a final attempt to keep one trapped worker alive through the sweltering summer heat, rescuers were able to administer water and intravenous medication before the man succumbed to his entrapment. \”He never made it despite all the efforts,\” Mendez said.\n\nThe third fatality was identified as a Malaysian tourist staying at a neighboring small budget inn, which was partially crushed by falling debris from the collapsed hotel. Another guest at the inn escaped with minor injuries and fled the site immediately after the collapse, officials confirmed.\n\nThe unfinished structure collapsed with a loud crash shortly after a severe thunderstorm hit the area before dawn on Sunday. Twenty-six construction workers, who were sleeping on plywood sheets on the building’s ground floor, either escaped on their own or were pulled out alive in the immediate aftermath of the incident. As of Monday, 17 workers remain unaccounted for, with one already located by rescuers but not yet extracted from the rubble, officials said.\n\nA full day after the disaster, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin announced that search and rescue operations would continue, with no transition to body recovery planned for the time being. \”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.\” \n\nBut the prolonged wait has deepened anxiety and fear among family members gathered in temporary shelters near the collapse site. Lea Mendoza Casilao, a 47-year-old sardine factory worker whose mason boyfriend is among the missing, said she has lost faith in a timely rescue. \”I’m losing hope because of what I see— slow rescue work,\” she said. Casilao had brought a week’s supply of rice and sardines to the site for her boyfriend, after the pair planned to meet over the weekend, a meeting that never happened after the building crumbled where he was sleeping.\n\nLazatin defended the pace of the operation, noting that massive concrete slabs are still held in unstable positions by tangled aluminum scaffolding, and any rushed movement could trigger secondary collapses that would put rescue crews at fatal risk.\n\nPhilippine National Police Chief General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. confirmed that law enforcement will launch a full investigation into the collapse to identify its root cause and any potential violations of national building codes and construction safety regulations.\n\nAngeles City, located roughly 80 kilometers north of the Philippine capital Manila, has a unique modern history: it was once home to one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside the U.S. mainland, Clark Air Base, which closed in the early 1990s. The former base has since been redeveloped into the Clark Freeport Zone, a busy industrial and tourism hub that has turned Angeles City and surrounding Luzon communities into major commercial and leisure centers. The collapsed hotel was located in an area dotted by budget inns, leisure businesses and other commercial developments that grew up around the former base.
3 dead, 17 mostly workers still missing in collapse of unfinished hotel in Philippines
