Hanoi(VNA) – Philippine authorities have confirmed that all 37 missing victims in ablaze at a shopping centre in a southern city on December 23 were dead.
All the victims werestaff of SSI, a US-headquartered company specialised on market research, localauthorities stated on December 25.
Currently, authorisedagencies of the Southeast Asian country have been asked expand the criminalinvestigation on the blaze. So far, the reason behind the fire has yet beenclarified.
Theblaze started at the four-storey NCCC Mall on December 23 morning and spread toother places. Many people were trapped inside, including in a call centre onthe top floor, said a local police.
OnDecember 24, SSI company informed that 37 out of its 500 staff of its Davaobranch went missing.
The fire was not controlled until early December24.
Davao is the biggest city in the southernPhilippines. It is about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) south of Manila.-VNA