Up to 15 'feared dead' in Philippines hotel fire

Up to 15 people are missing and feared dead after a fire engulfed a hotel in the northern Philippines, police said. The four-hour Sunday pre-dawn blaze consumed the five-storey hotel, named Bed and Breakfast, in Tuguegarao city and authorities are searching for the remains of the missing, said Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, the provincial police chief. "Approximately 15 persons trapped inside (are) believed to be dead," Aplasca said in a preliminary report sent to the national police headquarters in Manila. He added that 12 injured people were taken to hospital and all were in stable condition. Police did not release the identities of the missing and the injured. The cause of the blaze had not yet been established, Aplasca said. Local fire officials earlier said the hotel guests included recent graduates of a nursing school in nearby Santiago, who had checked in ahead of taking professional exams. "We don't have an update on the missing yet. Operations are ongoing," city fire officer Peter Cagurangan told AFP.