Female call center employee in Davao City mall fire still missing

A female employee of the Texas-based call center company, Research Now SSI, remains missing twelve days after the NCCC mall fire in Davao City, an official said Wednesday.

Inter-agency Anti-Arson Task Force spokesperson Superintendent Jerry Candido said Research Now SSI's employee Alexandra Moreno Castillo could not still be included in the official list of fatalities from the mall fire because her body had not been found.

"As of [this time] po ay missing pa lang siya. We can't include her sa casualties, 37 pa lang ang accounted and recovered na dead bodies," Candido said in a text message to GMA News Online.

Fire hit the NCCC Mall on December 23. Authorities said a total of 38 people, including Castillo, were killed in the blaze.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) on Wednesday said it had indefinitely suspended the registration of Research Now SSI and NCCC the Mall due to the deadly fire.

Five officials of the Bureau of Fire Protection have been relieved from their posts pending results of the investigation into the fire.

Initial reports said the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring and the sprinkler system at the mall's third and fourth floors did not work during the fire. —ALG, GMA News