Survivors recall NCCC mall fire nightmare

Some survivors of the fire that gutted Davao City's New City Commercial Center (NCCC) Mall recalled their tragic experience.

In a "24 Oras" report by Chino Gaston on Tuesday, a certain Valster Huera took to social media to detail their ordeal.

"Five to 10 minutes before 10 a.m., we smelled something burning like plastic or toxic fumes and seconds later, smoke started coming out from our airconditioners. The sprinklers did not work so someone who has water with them threw it in the air and I even got some water on me which apparently turned into black ash stains on my jacket," Huera said in a Facebook post.

Huera said some people ran toward the fire exit, which were impassable.

"People were already crowded as we approach the fire exit. I heard someone shouting, 'Balik kay dili maagian ang fire exit. Init kaau sulod! (Go back, fire exit is unpassable. It's so hot inside)," Huera said.

"People from the 2nd fire exit came rushing towards us and said it's also unpassable there," he added.

"Suddenly we saw someone from the lobby waving and shouting to go to the lobby area's exit towards the mall's theater so we ran as fast as we could going there."

Huera called it the "worst nightmare" of his life.

"A very traumatic near death experience, and up until now the scene from the locker area keeps flashing back to me," Huera said.

Call center agent Aprielle Bolosito said it was difficult for them to leave the area due to "zero visibility" caused by thick smoke. They were left shouting and crying in the locker area as they were not able to run toward the fire exit.

"Zero visibility na, wala na light ang wires sa ceiling... nagbuto2," Bolosito said in a Facebook post.

When she tried to go back to the office, she heard her co-worker shouting so she was able to rush toward the lobby. Bolosito said no one followed her as some of her co-workers chose to hide inside the comfort room.

The incident on Saturday claimed the lives of 37 individuals, most of whom were employees of the Research Now SSI, a Texas-based call center located at the fourth floor of the mall.

A witness claimed the fire started from the third floor of the building.

"Sa kisame, doon nagstart 'yung apoy... kasi kung may sunog man, dapat sa baba. Pero doon talaga sa taas, pababa ang apoy... pababa," the witness said.

"'Yung mga tao doon medyo nagsstampede na kasi kinukuha pa nila 'yung gamit sa locker," the witness added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed that the "truth will come out" in the fire incident and that government will "chip in" for aid and compensation for the grieving families.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the fire to determine criminal liability. —Anna Felicia Bajo/JST, GMA News