Nine missing in Philippines hotel fire: rescuers

Nine people are missing and feared dead after a fire engulfed a hotel in the northern Philippines, rescuers said. Nine out of about 50 guests could be accounted for on Sunday morning after firemen put out the blaze that razed the hotel, named Bed and Breakfast, in Tuguegarao, city fire marshal Neil Caranguian told a Manila radio station by telephone. A city fire officer, Peter Cagurangan, told AFP the missing were believed to include recent graduates of a nursing school in nearby Santiago, who had checked in ahead of taking professional exams, but said he did not know exact numbers. "We don't have an update on the missing yet. Operations are ongoing," he said, adding that the cause of the blaze had not yet been established.