Manila - Three people have been killed and dozens more are feared dead after a fire gutted a footwear factory in the Philippine capital Manila Wednesday, officials said.
Rex Gatchalian, mayor of the northern Manila industrial suburb of Valenzuela, said firemen took four hours to get the blaze under control, and entered the burnt-out building to find an undetermined number of bodies.
They were unable to count the dead inside, but found no survivors, he said.
"None of those trapped inside survived," Gatchalian announced to wailing relatives outside the factory.
He added that firemen could not immediately determine how many bodies had been inside, but relatives told officials up to 63 of their kin working in the factory at the time were unaccounted for.
Gatchalian urged the relatives to check again whether the missing kin were among those who had managed to escape the blaze.
"I'm not saying all (the missing) are dead. We're still hoping they were able to jump out," he added.
The fire broke out shortly before noon (0400 GMT), apparently due to a spark from a welding job at the building's main entrance hitting flammable chemicals stored there, Gatchalian told ABS-CBN television in a separate interview.
He said the bodies of three other victims were earlier recovered.
AFP
