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Hours After Fires, 36 Bodies Are Found at Manila Casino - The New York Times

posted onJune 2, 2017
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Article snippet: MANILA — Thirty-six bodies were found at the biggest hotel-casino in the Philippines after a gunman carrying a container of gasoline set fires and touched off a mass panic — hours after the authorities said that only the assailant had died. The discovery of the bodies was confirmed about noon on Friday by Oscar Albayalde, a police spokesman. Another police official, Tomas Apolonio Jr., said that the victims died of smoke inhalation in the casino area. Mr. Albayalde said the gunman shot a television set and set fires but did not shoot any people, indicating that he did not intend to kill anyone and was not a terrorist. “He could have inflicted maximum casualties, but he did not,” Mr. Albayalde said. The authorities did not say why it took so long for so many bodies to be found. Officials denied that the police response was slow and said that they arrived at the scene within minutes. In the early hours of Friday, Ronald dela Rosa, the director general of the national police, had said “We’ve cleared everything” and “As of now the situation is going back to normal.” And Stephen Reilly, the chief operating officer of Resorts World Manila, said all guests had been accounted for and were safe. At least one employee of the complex, however, appeared to be missing in the early hours after a plume of smoke was seen pouring from the casino. “Where is my daughter? I haven’t heard from her. Where is she?” Gil Emyongco, the father of Hazel Emyongco, a 29-year-old table supervi... Link to the full article to read more

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