ANGELES CITY, PHILIPPINES / MENA Newswire / — Four people have died and 17 others remain missing after a nine-story building under construction collapsed before dawn Sunday in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga, authorities said Monday, as rescue teams continued searching through unstable concrete, steel and scaffolding. The collapse, reported at about 3 a.m. on May 24, involved a construction site on Teodoro Street and damaged a nearby lodging facility, where a Malaysian national was among the confirmed fatalities.
Early estimates from local officials placed the number of people feared trapped at 30 to 40, based on information from a site foreman who escaped. Authorities later revised the active missing count as rescuers accounted for more workers and victims. Most of the people still unaccounted for were construction workers reported to have been at or near the site, while officials also received reports involving a vendor in the area.
The Bureau of Fire Protection Central Luzon said rescuers had retrieved a fourth body by late Monday morning, raising the confirmed death toll from earlier reports. The operation continued under hazardous conditions because sections of the debris remained unstable and steel elements were interconnected. Heavy equipment was kept on standby, while responders carried out manual clearing, thermal scans and canine searches to detect possible signs of life beneath the rubble.
Search continues through unstable debris
Around 700 emergency responders were deployed at the site, including local rescue personnel and police assigned to search, retrieval, traffic control and area security. The Philippine National Police said it was supporting the inquiry into the collapse and possible violations of safety and building regulations. Authorities also advised the public to avoid the area so emergency crews could continue work without obstruction.
The building had been approved as a nine-story condo-hotel, while authorities said construction activity included a swimming pool on an additional 10th floor. Officials said the cause of the collapse had not been determined. Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin II said the local government was seeking information from the building owner, including details needed to verify how many people were at the site when the structure failed.
Officials review building records
Nearby residents were evacuated as a precaution because of concerns over further collapse, and emergency teams monitored the surrounding area while rescue work continued. The Malaysian embassy was coordinating with local authorities after the death of the Malaysian national, whose body was recovered from the lodging facility affected by the collapse. Other people injured or rescued from the site were taken for medical assessment, according to local officials.
The Angeles City building collapse has drawn attention to construction site safety in Pampanga as families waited near the restricted zone for updates on missing relatives. Authorities said the official count would continue to be updated as rescue and retrieval work progressed and as names were cross-checked against lists from the site engineer and reports from families. The investigation remains focused on the cause of the structural failure and any building regulation issues.