RESCUERS used their hands and sniffer dogs to search for 19 people who are feared trapped after a building under construction in Angeles City collapsed early on Sunday.
The building collapsed on itself while also heavily damaging an adjacent hotel where two of the 26 people who were rescued had been staying, they said.
Local delivery rider James Bernardo, 30, told AFP by telephone he had just dropped off food on the same street when the disaster occurred.
"A few seconds later, there was suddenly a loud noise in the area, and when I looked, I realized that (the building) had already collapsed," Bernardo said.
A video clip taken by Bernardo and verified by AFP showed a giant pile of twisted steel beams, power pylons and slabs of concrete blocking the street as fellow witnesses took photographs with their phones.
In the clip, Bernardo can be heard saying, "We thought it was an earthquake, but it turned out it was the building (collapsing)."
Angeles City information officer Jay Pelayo told AFP the nine-story building's walls and scaffolding had buckled, likely trapping people in a pile of debris.
While there were no initial reports of casualties, "there are 19 personnel that usually report in the area, so they are the ones we are trying to locate now," Pelayo said. "There are big chunks of concrete, and we need equipment to lift them up. That is what's challenging for the rescue right now."
Initial reports suggested 24 people had been rescued from the rubble, as well as two from a hotel that was also hit when the building came down, the city government said.
"We hope the 19 people are part of that number" and therefore accounted for, Pelayo said.
Firefighters, police and disaster-response teams used their hands and sniffer dogs to search for the trapped survivors, Public Works Secretary Vinzon Dizon told reporters.
“There are some signs of life... There are voices that are being heard,” Dizon said, adding that rescuers were moving with extreme caution. “It’s a very, very unstable site, and the priority is to get the people out.”
Rescuers were “hearing voices” in the rubble, while 24 workers managed to dash to safety or were rescued, police and other officials said.
The building collapsed after a fierce thunderstorm.
Among the 21 people who remained unaccounted for, most were believed to be workers at the building, according to Francis Pangilinan, who heads Angeles City’s disaster mitigation office and was at the scene.
Two other people, including a Malaysian tourist, were injured when their lodgings were hit by debris from the collapsed building, officials said.
The incident ignited fierce online debate over the building’s structural integrity, after street-level photos appeared to show columns far too slender for such a tall edifice.
The building is owned by a certain Ernest Jackson Lim.
Netizens and construction watchers began scrutinizing Google Maps Street View captures of the project during its early phases.
“The columns visible in those photos can only support up to a four-story building,” several online commentators said.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sent K9 teams to help search for victims who could still be trapped under the rubble.
