On December 23, 2017, a fire started at the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) shopping mall in Davao City, Philippines. At least 38 people were trapped inside the mall, mostly employees of the market research firm Survey Sampling International (SSI). The probable cause of the fire was faulty electrical wiring due to malpractice of the renovation of the mall's third floor. One body was found a day later, whilst 37 others were found on Christmas day. On December 27, the remains of a security guard who rescued 783 people from the mall was also found. The mall was nearly burnt down and the remaining structure was demolished due to safety concerns. Background The New City Commercial Center Mall Davao was a shopping mall located on the corner of MacArthur Highway and Ma-a Road in Davao City, Philippines. It was operated by the New City Commercial Corporation, which was owned by Chinese businessman Lim Tian Siu and his family. The mall opened in December 2003 as the largest project of the corporation. It was the corporation's second mall, after opening one in Tagum, Davao del Norte. The incident was not the first time a fire struck the corporation's projects. In September 2013, a fire burned an NCCC mall in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Furthermore, it was not the first time the Lim family was affected by a fire incident. In 1952, the family established a textile business after relocating to Davao City, but was destroyed by fire. Fire The fire started on the morning of Saturday, December 23, 2017. The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reported that the fire started at around 9:30 a.m. PST (UTC+8). NCCC marketing manager Janna Abdullah Mutalib said that the fire started at the mall's third floor where the textiles (which were the materials that are flammable and cause the fire to get worse), school supplies and furniture were sold. At that time, the establishments were still closed to the public, except for the grocery store and the SSI office (located at the fourth floor, above where the fire started). The BFP's regional office in Davao received a radio call at 10:05 a.m. PST with the first units arriving at the scene six minutes later and at the same time, some parts of the mall began to fall apart (eventually, the logo of the mall was burned as well) due to the intense heat of the fire.