Angeles City, Pampanga building collapse death toll climbs to 17

The death toll in the collapse of a building under construction in Angeles City, Pampanga last week has risen further to 17 on early Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Central Luzon said.

The BFP Central Luzon said the 17th confirmed casualty was extricated from the collapse site in Barangay Balibago at 4:08 a.m. on June 2.

In an earlier Facebook post, the BFP Central Luzon said the bodies of two unidentified victims — the 15th and 16th casualties — were recovered in the early hours of June 2.

The 15th victim was extricated at 1:56 a.m. “after grueling hours of clearing rubble and debris,” while the 16th victim was pulled out of the collapsed building at 2:07 a.m. This brought the death toll to 16.

Rescue personnel also recovered the remains of a dog from the rubble at 1:34 a.m.

On Monday night, the body of the 14th fatality was extricated at 11:20 p.m., hours after search and rescue teams first sighted the remains on Monday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the body of the 13th victim was recovered from the rubble at around 12:59 p.m.

With this development, 17 people were confirmed dead, three were still reported missing, and 27 were rescued in the incident.

The nine-story building being constructed collapsed before dawn on May 24.

According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), there were possible violations of occupational safety and health standards at the construction site.

The construction project had previously been subjected to a work stoppage order issued by DOLE Region 3 because of safety deficiencies.

It was later resumed after the company reportedly complied with the agency’s requirement.

On Saturday, lawyers of the owner and contractor of the structure showed up at a press conference a week after the incident.

One of the lawyers said that the owner of the building is willing to help the victims and seeks to conduct an independent investigation into the incident.

“Una po naming kinausap iyon pong Office of the Mayor po. Sila po ‘yung puwedeng tumulong sa amin at ipinaliwanag din po namin kung kakailangan pong pinansyal na tulong,” Atty. Willie Rivera, representative of the building owner, said.

(We first talked to the Office of the Mayor. They are the ones who can help us, and we explained to them that should financial help be needed.)

“Hindi po tatakbo si contractor sa mga assistance na hihingiin ng families. Ang number one priority nila ngayon ay to help the affected families,” Atty. Nicolai Manguerra, representative of the contractor, said.

(The contractor will not run away from the assistance that families would request. Their number one priority is to help the affected families.)

Investigations into the incident are ongoing. —with a report from Joviland Rita/JMA/KG, GMA News