According to officials, a massive fire damaged a historic post office in the Philippine city of Manila on Monday.
The Bureau of Fire Protection said more than 80 fire engines were dispatched to the decades-old monument after the fire broke out late Sunday.
As flames burned the neo-classical Manila Central Post Office overlooking the Pasig River, thick black smoke billowed hundreds of meters into the sky.
It took firemen more than seven hours to put out the fire.
“The whole building has burned down from the basement all the way to the fifth floor,” Postmaster General Luis Carlos told DZBB radio. The cause of the blaze was being investigated, he said.
Firefighters from around the capital were sent in to tackle the blaze, which injured one volunteer firefighter.
According to its website, the post office was formerly considered the “grandest building” in Manila when it was erected in 1926.
It was damaged during WWII as US forces reclaimed the capital from Japanese occupation forces, and it was reconstructed in 1946.
The building was designated a “important cultural property” by the Philippine National Museum in 2018.
Carlos believes that letters, shipments, and the postal service’s complete stamp collection were in the building and were likely destroyed.
