Emergency officials in the northern Philippines have concluded a two-day rescue operation for 16 people who went missing after a nine-storey building under construction collapsed, killing at least four people, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.

Authorities said the operation has now shifted from rescue efforts to the recovery of bodies following the discovery of four fatalities.

Among the deceased were a Malaysian man and two construction workers who had been trapped under the debris.

The collapsed condominium structure had fallen onto a nearby hotel in Angeles City, located north of Manila, early on Sunday.

“We know how hard this is for you,” said Maria Leah Sajili, information officer for the regional Bureau of Fire Protection, during a news briefing on Tuesday.

She added: “We sympathise with what you are going through. Rest assured, we did everything we could to save lives, and now we have to move forward.”

Alfredo Albis, 55, told the AFP news agency he believed two of his cousins who worked with him at the building site were among the missing.

“They were working here to earn for their families,” said Albis, who was asleep at a nearby barracks for workers when the structure collapsed.

Authorities called off search and rescue operations late on Monday after rescuers, using life locator equipment, determined there were no longer signs of life beneath the rubble.

Seventeen people had originally been listed as missing, but rescue officials said one of them contacted officials on Monday to confirm he had not been in the area at the time, Sajili said.

Officials said up to 70 people were employed at the construction site, although most had gone home for the weekend.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev