DHAKA: At least 37 people are feared to have died in a fire that ravaged a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Davao, reports BBC quoting local officials.

Firefighters battled for hours to extinguish the blaze that started on Saturday morning (December 23) on the third floor and spread to the floor above, trapping employees of a call centre.

Their chances of survival were "zero", a local official was quoted as saying.

President Rodrigo Duterte met the families of the missing at the scene.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Davao lies about 800km (500 miles) south-east of the capital Manila.

BDST: 1204 HRS, DEC 24, 2017
SI