By Noel Celis and Jay Ereno

ANGELES, Philippines, May 25 (Reuters) - Philippine rescuers were racing against time on Monday in a search for possible signs of life more than 24 hours after the collapse of a building under construction in the city of Angeles, with crews carefully removing rocks and surrounding debris by hand.

The painstaking manual operation around 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, Manila, underscored the difficulty of the rescue effort, carried out under scorching heat, with authorities unable to rely on excavators and other machinery for fear that the unstable structure could shift further and bury any survivors deeper beneath the wreckage and rubble.

As the delicate search operations stretched into a second day, families waiting near the disaster area voiced growing frustration and despair, saying they were receiving no information about the fate of their missing loved ones.

"My youngest child keeps asking, but I do not have answers," said 47-year old Lea Casilao, whose husband, a construction worker, is believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.

"If only the rescuers could call out his name, he might still respond, so I'd have something to hold on to, some hope," Casilao said, wiping away her tears.

Search teams, assisted by K9 dogs, continued to comb through the debris after overnight thermal scans detected heartbeats and breathing beneath the collapsed structure.

Rescuers also placed yellow flexible tubes to channel air into pockets beneath a tangle of concrete, mangled metal and collapsed scaffolding.

Nearby, Noby Batar also pleaded for news of her husband, Emmanuel, who is believed to be buried beneath the pile of concrete and steel.

"Manny, if you're not among the dead, please just show yourself. We're here, and we don't know whether you're alive or not. This is so difficult for us because we don't know what to do," said Batar, with her daughter, Stephanie, crying beside her.

"Give us a sign, we love you very much," Stephanie said.

INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY

As rescuers pulled a third body from the rubble, officials said the death toll has risen to four, with 17 still missing.

One of the two victims that were retrieved earlier had a pulse, but later died, Maria Leah Sajili, information officer at the regional Bureau of Fire Protection, said in a phone interview, while another suffered cardiac arrest while still trapped under the rubble.

Sajili said there could be more victims trapped.

Among those who died was a 65-year-old Malaysian national whose body was recovered on Sunday from a neighbouring hotel building that had also been affected by the collapse.

Officials said an investigation was now underway into what caused the collapse of the multi-storey building, and they are trying to locate the building owner to get answers, including clarity on the number of workers at the site.

Planning records showed the building that collapsed was intended as a nine-storey condo-hotel under the approved permit, but a swimming pool was being constructed on an additional 10th floor, authorities said.

Geraldine Panlilio, regional director of the Department of Labour and Employment, told DZMM radio the agency issued a work stoppage order in September 2025 to halt the building construction after inspectors found multiple violations of occupational health and safety standards. The order was lifted a month later after the company complied.

(Reporting by Karen Lema, Jay Ereno, Lorenza Lesaba and Noel Celis; Editing by David Stanway)

Posted by: AAngeles /NET25 News