/ AFP / Manman Dejeto/
(Eagle News) — The number of fatalities in the fire that hit a mall in Davao City on Saturday rose to 38 early Wednesday, after authorities confirmed that a person who had been declared as missing had passed away in the deadly fire.
New City Commercial Center mall employee Melvin Ga-a added to the list of the dead in the tragic incident that saw President Rodrigo Duterte rushing to the scene to console the bereaved kin of the victims.
On Tuesday, authorities announced that the charred bodies would be subjected to an examination so their identities could be properly determined.
Apart from Ga-a, 37 call center agents who were working for Texas-based Survey Sampling International Davao were declared dead in the incident that saw the four-story mall ablaze for 32 hours straight.
SSI Davao was located on the fourth floor of the mall.
The departments of justice and labor have both announced a probe into the incident, which some parties blamed on the mall and call center managements.
The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno said that based on information from survivors who posted their ordeal on social media,. the fire alarms and sprinklers in the establishment did not work.
The call center agents could not call for help, since their cell phones were all located in another area of the office, based on SSI policy.
No evacuation plan was implemented by SSI Davao to bring its employees to safety, the KMU said.
Senior Supt. Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan Tiu, the Bureau of Fire Protection regional chief, apologized for the incident, even as he noted that firefighters did everything they could to save as many lives as possible.
“I’m really very sorry that we failed,” he said.
