Yahoo Finance At Least 1 Dead After Multistory Condo Building in Miami Collapses: 'This is a Horrific Catastrophe'
CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A multistory condo building in Miami, Florida has partially collapsed, killing at least one individual as a massive search and rescue effort is now underway, according to multiple reports.
Early on Thursday morning, part of the 12-story residential building in the South Florida community of Surfside was reduced to rubble around 2 a.m. local time, NBC 6 reported.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue quickly responded to the scene of the incident near 88th Street and Collins Avenue, sending more than 80 fire rescue units, the outlet said. The agency also sent a Technical Rescue Team, a group "specially trained in the treatment and removal of victims trapped in complex or confined spaces."
City fire departments and the Miami Beach police are also assisting at the scene, per NBC News.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told CNN that at least one person has died while around 10 others were treated at the scene for injuries. "This is a horrific catastrophe. In the United States, buildings just don't fall down," he told the outlet.
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#MDFR is on scene of a partial building collapse near 88 Street & Collins Avenue. Over 80 MDFR units including #TRT are on scene with assistance from municipal fire departments. Updates will be provided on Twitter as they become available.
— Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (@MiamiDadeFire) June 24, 2021
According to NBC 6, officials at the local Aventura Hospital said that they have received three patients from the building scene and two were in critical condition.
"The building has literally pancaked, it has gone down, and I mean there's just feet in between stories where there were 10 feet," Burkett told the outlet. "That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean to me that we're gonna be as successful as we would want to be to find people alive."
CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Records obtained by NBC News note that the building, known as Champlain Towers South, was built back in the 1980s and features more than 100 residential units.
The building was undergoing roof work, according to Burkett, but it's not known if the work played a part in the collapse, CNN reported.
It's also not clear how many individuals were inside the condominium building at the time of the early morning collapse.
Kimberly Morales, a woman who lives in a building across the street from the one that collapsed, said she was awakened by building alarms after the incident.
"I woke everyone up in the room because when I looked out the window, I saw everyone outside," she told CNN. "I told everyone to hurry up and leave the building."
Another witness told NBC 6 what he saw of the building collapse.
"I just can't put into words, it looks like a bomb hit, it looks like something in one of these Third World countries that just literally collapsed, like a pancake straight down, and there's just an incredible pile of rubble," he said.
This story is still developing.
