At least one person died and 99 others are missing after the partial collapse of a 12-story building in Surfside, Miami Beach.
A significant portion of the building, just north of Miami Beach, was reduced to rubble and exposed the interior of the apartments, video images showed.
So far only the death of one person has been officially confirmed, who was pulled out of the rubble. Ten people were treated at the scene, two were transported to hospitals and 35 rescued from the balconies of the building, according to official sources.
So far only the death of one person has been officially confirmed, who was pulled out of the rubble. Ten people were treated at the scene, two were transported to hospitals and 35 rescued from the balconies of the building, according to official sources.
The 12 floors of the building collapsed at 1:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. Mexico City time), causing a large cloud of dust that spread through several streets in the area, according to several witnesses.
The causes of the collapse and the number of people who were inside the building, inhabited by a combination of full-time and seasonal residents and tenants, are still unknown, according to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman.
“It’s difficult to have an accounting,” Heyman told CNN. “You don’t know, between holidays or anything else. So we are still waiting. And unfortunately, the hope is still there, but it is dwindling,” he added.
18 Latin Americans missing
Among the disappeared, there are at least 18 Latin American citizens.
The sister of the first lady of Paraguay, SophÃa López Moreira, her husband and three children as well as an employee are among the missing, Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo reported.
Silvana López Moreira, wife of Paraguayan President Mario Abdo, is preparing to travel to Miami this Thursday afternoon, the Presidency reported.
The Argentine consulate in Miami confirmed that there are nine Argentines who are missing after the collapse. For his part, the Uruguayan consul in that city, Eduardo Bouzout, said that there are no news from three Uruguayans.
The consular representation of Mexico in Miami has not reported any missing Mexican citizen, but has shared official information for nationals who need assistance after the incident.
Rescue work
Rescue teams work in the rain in search of people trapped in the rubble of the building, which partially collapsed in the middle of the night while its occupants slept, for reasons not yet determined.
About 55 apartments were affected by the collapse, according to Miami-Dade Deputy Chief Fire Department Ray Jadallah, who told a news conference that emergency services arrived at the scene around 1:30 a.m. local and 35 people were evacuated from the building.
According to local media, the building was built in 1981 and had 130 units.
Some people were able to get out on their own by the stairs while others had to be rescued from their balconies.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett confirmed one death, and Heyman said about 14 survivors had been rescued from the rubble.
The commissioner said the focus was now on recovering potential victims from the rubble, in a massive operation assisted by drones and dogs that involved both police and firefighters.
The search efforts are being led by Miami-Dade County firefighters and are hampered by the rain. The big fear is the possibility of the building totally collapsing while these tasks are being performed.
“Many thanks to our brave and courageous Fire Department workers,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“Apparently when the building collapsed it fell on itself, so they don’t find or see a lot of empty spaces from the outside,” Burkett told NBC.
In the early hours of the morning, local television channels showed images of firefighters pulling a minor out of the rubble, apparently unscathed. Parts of mattresses, headboards and other furniture protruded from the pile of rubble.
Surfside City Manager Andrew Hyatt pointed out at the press conference that search operations could last a week.
The Miami-Dade mayor said she had spoken with President Joe Biden by phone in the hours after the incident. “He offered the full support of the federal government to help our community in this difficult time,” he tweeted.
“Like a bomb”
Burkett said it is not yet known why the property collapsed. “It is as if a bomb had exploded, but we are very sure that a bomb did not explode, so it is something else.”
Santo Mejil, a resident of the area, said his wife, a caregiver, was in the building when it collapsed.
“She said she heard a loud explosion. It felt like an earthquake,” he told the Miami Herald newspaper, sobbing as his wife called him again to say that she was being evacuated from the scene.
Julian Targowski, a 25-year-old witness, described the sound of the landslide. “It was like a very low sound, like boom boom, boom boom,” he told local WFOR television.
“Like a lot of bass in an amp,” he added. “So my friend texted me saying that a building had exploded.”
With information from AFP and EFE
