Photo courtesy of Angeles City Information Office.
The number of fatalities in the collapse of a nine-story building under construction in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga, increased to 30 as retrieval and clearing work at the site continued on Tuesday.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Central Luzon said responders recovered the latest body shortly after midnight, marking another grim development in operations that had stretched into their 17th day.
The structure, which collapsed on May 24, had since become the focus of sustained search, rescue, retrieval, and debris-clearing efforts involving responders working through layers of concrete, steel, and construction materials.
Before the latest recovery, authorities had retrieved another fatality late Monday evening, bringing the toll to 29 before the count rose again several hours later.
Officials had yet to confirm the identity of the latest victim, saying verification procedures still had to be completed before any details could be released to the public.
Earlier reports from authorities indicated that not all of those recovered from the site were construction workers, a detail that raised concerns over how many people had actually been inside the building at the time of the collapse.
The presence of nonworkers among the fatalities also prompted questions on access, safety controls, and accountability at the construction site before the incident.
Operations remained underway as responders continued to remove debris and search the remaining sections of the collapsed structure for any more possible victims.