3 killed in Manila Pavilion Hotel fire
Thick smoke billows from the 50 year old Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino after it caught fire around 9:30 am on sunday. Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, which reached Task force Bravo. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Three employees of state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) died when the casino at the 22-story Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino on UN Avenue in Manila caught fire on Sunday morning.
Nearly two dozen people were injured and two were listed as missing, police and rescue officials said.
President Rodrigo Duterte made an aerial inspection of the burning hotel, according to his aide, Christopher Go.
Go said the President had just come from his trip to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City.
Senior Insp. Reden Alumno, chief arson investigator of the Manila fire district, identified one of the fatalities as Jun Evangelista, a Pagcor treasury officer.
Alumno said Evangelista died of asphyxia. He was pronounced dead at Manila Doctors Hospital.
The other two fatalities were later identified as casino employees Marilyn Umadto and Billy de Castro.
The three casino employees were among 18 people taken to nearby Manila Doctors Hospital after the fire broke out.
Among the 18 was casino internal officer Jenifer Figeroa, who was revived by doctors.
Earlier reports put the number of dead at four. But authorities brought down the number to three after Figeroa was revived.
Thirteen others suffered from difficulty in breathing while another one suffered from back pain.
Ground floor
About 159 employees and guests were evacuated.
The fire broke out at 9:48 a.m. It started at the ground floor of the historic hotel, which opened in 1968 as the Manila Hilton.
By 11:30 a.m., firefighters placed the Manila Pavilion under Task Force Bravo, which meant all available fire trucks in the metropolis were required to respond to the site.
As of 4 p.m., the alarm level had yet to be lowered.
Closed to traffic
The cause of fire and the damage incurred have yet to be established.
As of Sunday afternoon, thick smoke continued to engulf the building and the streets around it, particularly Kalaw and Maria Orosa, and UN Avenue. The streets remained closed to traffic on Sunday afternoon.
When fire broke out, many of those on the upper floors did not know where to run because the ground floor, where the fire was believed to have originated, was already covered in thick black smoke.
Ladder booms from other cities in Metro Manila were sent to the site to help firefighters reach the hotel’s upper floors.
Johnny Yu, head of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said drones had to be used to check if there were people trapped in the rooms as it was very difficult to penetrate the hotel.
Helicopter rescue
A private helicopter was used to rescue people on upper floors, according to SFO4 Ronald Lim.
Lim, who was among the first to respond, said there was almost zero visibility on UN Avenue when he and his men arrived at the site on Sunday morning.
The hotel is owned by Waterfront Philippines Inc. —With reports from Christine O. Avendaño and the wires
