Death toll in Pampanga building collapse hits 4

ANGELES CITY, Philippines, May 26 ------ The death toll from the collapsed building in Barangay Balibago in this city has risen to four, with 17 still missing.

Family members of Malaysian national Mohd Rezal Abdullah, along with a representative of the Malaysian embassy, arrived in Pampanga to claim his remains yesterday. Abdullah, who was staying at an adjacent apartelle, was trapped under the collapsed structure.

The two other casualties were identified as construction workers Properio Alikaway and Mark Laurence Capungay. The identity of the fourth victim is still being verified. Most of the missing people are construction workers, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reported yesterday. Meanwhile, 26 others were rescued and 47 were the total affected in the accident.

Various agencies, including the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the BFP, are continuing full-scale search, rescue and retrieval operations on the accident site, which has been divided into four sectors. As of yesterday, 267 personnel remain deployed, including members of the BFP Special Rescue Force, Emergency Medical Service teams and augmentation units from Pampanga, Aurora, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan and the BFP Regional Office III.

Thermal scans, canine units and life detector equipment were deployed to search for survivors, alongside rescue trucks, ambulances, firetrucks, technical rescue equipment and other specialized assets. The Philippine National Police has deployed 175 personnel in the area. PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said police units were immediately mobilized to support rescue and retrieval operations, traffic management and area security. “Every second matters in a crisis, and our duty is to act without delay, bringing every available asset to save lives, account for the missing and support affected families on the ground,” he said.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) also sent six K9 rescue teams, composed of six Coast Guard working dogs and 12 personnel. The teams immediately commenced operations in Sector 1. “The Philippine Coast Guard remains fully committed to supporting inter-agency humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations to ensure the safety and welfare of affected families,” PCG spokesperson Noemie Cayabyab said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is also onsite, using its vibraphones to locate victims based on their sound vibrations and vibrascopes to get visuals in dark and tight spaces. “We had to double time. We have personnel who have already penetrated inside the rubble – Public Safety Division, rescuers and listening devices in the hope of receiving feedback from the victims beneath,” MMDA general manager Nicolas Torre III said. “There’s also our life detectors that scan and confirm if there is breathing, movement and heartbeat. We will deploy K9s once we detect the direction of our retrieval operations,” he added.

A long-range acoustic device is also used by the search and rescue team to communicate with the victims underneath the rubble. Torre said they already detected the barracks of the construction workers using their equipment, but were only able to rescue a dog because of the narrow exit from the site. “Since the pet has been found, we’re expecting that its owners are near the extraction site,” Torre noted. Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) mobilized a 35-person response team to conduct round-the-clock operations in the area.

Source: philstar.com