(Source: INQUIRER/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine authorities have confirmed that all 37 missing victims in a blaze at a shopping centre in a southern city on December 23 were dead.
All the victims were staff of SSI, a US-headquartered company specialised on market research, local authorities stated on December 25.
Currently, authorised agencies of the Southeast Asian country have been asked expand the criminal investigation on the blaze. So far, the reason behind the fire has yet been clarified.
The blaze started at the four-storey NCCC Mall on December 23 morning and spread to other places. Many people were trapped inside, including in a call centre on the top floor, said a local police.
On December 24, SSI company informed that 37 out of its 500 staff of its Davao branch went missing.
The fire was not controlled until early December 24.
Davao is the biggest city in the southern Philippines. It is about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) south of Manila.-VNA
VNA
