Dozens feared dead in Philippines mall fire

As many as 37 people are presumed dead in a fire that raged through a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Davao on Saturday, local officials said.

Firefighters battled the blaze at the four-story NCCC Mall well into Sunday morning after the fire started on the third floor and spread to a call center on the top floor.

Fire officials said the chance of survival for the 37 people trapped in the building was "zero," Paolo Duterte, Davao's vice mayor and son of the country's president, wrote on Facebook.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who was mayor of Davao for about two decades, was also at the scene of the fire on Saturday. He had said earlier that 29 people had perished in the blaze.

It was unclear what caused the fire.

The pre-Christmas fire comes as the Philippines struggles with storm-induced floods and mudslides that have claimed some 180 lives and displaced thousands of people in recent days.

The storms have hit the southern region of Mindanao, the location of Davao, particularly hard.

cw/bk (AFP, dpa)