MANILA: Nineteen people are feared trapped after a building under construction near the Philippine capital Manila collapsed early on Sunday (May 24), government officials and witnesses said.
The building in Angeles city collapsed on itself at around 3:00 am (1900 GMT Saturday) 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, said 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 realised that (the building) had already collapsed," Bernardo said.
"Thank God I'm safe."
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 is around 80 kilometres north of Manila.
City information officer Jay Pelayo said the nine-storey 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.
Videos and photos verified by AFP showed piles of broken poles and debris covering the site.
The rubble was wrapped in green protective plastic sheeting common at construction sites.
Interviews to determine the survivors' identities were ongoing, Pelayo added.
Those rescued were in a "stable condition", he said.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known. - AFP
