Miami Beach condo collapse leaves one dead and NINETY NINE people still missing after rescuers pull 35 from the rubble: Dramatic footage emerges of the moment 12-story building crumbled
- A huge emergency search and rescue operation is underway after the beachfront condo tower, Champlain Towers South, collapsed at about 1.30am this morning in the Miami neighborhood of Surfside
- One woman has been confirmed dead and at least 10 people were injured
- Authorities say 53 people had been accounted for by Thursday afternoon but 99 who are believed to have lived in the building were still missing
- First responders rescued 35 people, including a young boy who was photographed being taken to safety
- Rescue teams are currently using machinery and dogs to help trawl the wreckage for any survivors. Authorities fear many more people may be dead or remain trapped
- Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett was not confident there would be many survivors, saying: 'The building has literally pancaked'
- It is not clear how many people are missing but authorities said the building was 'substantially full' when it collapsed
- The building, which contains about 100 apartments, is located one block away from where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump currently live
- Authorities have not yet determined what caused the building to collapse but confirmed that renovations had been underway on the roof Authorities say 99 people are currently unaccounted for after a 12-story Miami Beach apartment building collapsed overnight, killing at least one - as hundreds of fire and rescue workers continue to scour through tons of rubble in search of any survivors.
Officially, only one woman has been confirmed dead and at least 10 people injured after the Champlain Towers South beachfront building collapsed at about 1.30am this morning in Miami's Surfside neighborhood.
Authorities say 53 people had been accounted for by Thursday afternoon but 99 who are believed to have lived in the building are still missing. It was unclear whether any, or all of them, were inside at the time of the collapse.
Thirty-five people were rescued from the damaged building including a young boy, who was photographed being pulled from the rubble in the early stages of the rescue operation. Two of those people, including the woman who has since died, were taken to hospital.
Rescue teams are currently using machinery, dogs and sound technology to help trawl the wreckage for any more survivors. Authorities say many more people may be dead or remain trapped under the rubble and warned the recovery efforts could last an entire week.
Sources told NBC that search a dog had tracked two potential survivors as of Thursday afternoon.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had earlier said rescue teams had made contact with some survivors but did not elaborate on where they were located or if they had been rescued.
'Right now, we have the fire rescue. They are in search and rescue mode. They are trying to identify survivors, I know they have made contact with some, and I know they are doing everything they can to save lives,' he said.
Horrifying surveillance footage, obtained by WSVN, captured the moment the building collapsed, sending a huge cloud of debris into the air.
DeSantis and other authorities said earlier that they were bracing for bad news in terms of survivors given the level of destruction.
'The building has literally pancaked,' Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said. 'That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean to me that
The surveillance video, obtained by WSVN , shows portions of the 12-story Miami Beach apartment building crumbling and sending a huge cloud of debris into the air when it collapsed in the middle of the night
A huge emergency search and rescue operation is underway after the beachfront condo tower, Champlain Towers South, collapsed at about 1.30am this morning in the Miami neighborhood of Surfside. One woman has been confirmed dead and at least eight people were injured
Hundreds of firefighters were seen walking through the wreckage, picking up other survivors and carrying them away. Authorities fear many more people may be dead or remain trapped under the rubble
Rescue teams rescued 35 people from the damaged building and two people, including the young boy, were pulled from the rubble in the early stages of the search operation
Rescue teams are trawling the wreckage for any survivors and have already miraculously pulled a young boy, who was conscious, from rubbleAuthorities say the building was 'substantially full' when it collapsed. Of the building's 136 apartments, 55 were destroyed.
The tower, which is located one block away from where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump currently live, has a mix of seasonal and year-round residents. Mayor Burkett said the building keeps a log of guests staying but does not keep track of when owners are in residence.
Hundreds of people were gathering at a family reunification center set up nearby as they awaited news on their family and friends.
The president of Paraguay's sister-in-law and her family, as well as a celebrity plastic surgeon from Argentina are among those still missing.
Sophia López Moreira, her husband Luis Pettengill and their three young children are still missing, Paraguay’s foreign ministry confirmed.
Moreira is the sister of President Mario Abdo BenÃtez's wife Silvana. The family owned a condo in the building.
Also missing is a famed Argentinian plastic surgeon, his partner, and their newly-adopted six year-old daughter.
That surgeon - Andres Galfrasconi, 45 - was visiting Miami with his partner Fabian Nunez, 55, and their daughter Sofia, six, to receive their COVID-19 vaccines.
Authorities have not yet determined what caused the building to collapse but confirmed that renovations had been underway on the roof in recent weeks.
Burkett said it was unlikely that the roof work had anything to do with the collapse, instead describing it as a 'catastrophic failure' of the building.
'It's hard to imagine how this could have happened,' Burkett said. 'Buildings just don't fall down.
'There's no reason for this building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls the supports out from underneath.'
Burkett suggested that potential causes could be the result of the foundations being washed out or a sinkhole.
The Miami-Dade Police have assumed control of the investigation as to why the building collapsed.
The collapse, which appeared to affect one leg of the L-shaped tower, tore away walls and left a number of homes in the still-standing part of the building exposed in what looked like a giant dollhouse.
Bunk beds, tables and chairs could be seen still left inside the damaged apartments. Air conditioner units were hanging from some parts of the building where wires now dangled.
Photos and video from the scene show the collapse affected half the tower. Piles of rubble and debris surrounded the area just outside the building.
The debris from the collapse coated cars up to two blocks away with a light layer of dust.
Fire rescue personnel conduct a search and rescue with dogs through the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo on Thursday
Search and rescue personnel with a K9 unit work in the rubble in search of survivors
Of the building's 136 apartments, 55 were destroyed. The building is located one block away from where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump currently live
Bunk beds, tables and chairs could be seen still left inside the damaged apartments. Air conditioner units were hanging from some parts of the building where wires now dangled
The collapse left a number of units in the still-standing part of the building exposed with furniture visible inside some apartments
Authorities have not yet determined what caused the building to collapse but confirmed that renovations had been underway on the roof
Of the building's 136 apartments, 55 were destroyed. Authorities have not yet determined what caused the building to collapse but confirmed that renovations had been underway on the roof
Rescue teams are currently using machinery and dogs to help trawl the wreckage for any survivors. Authorities fear many more people may be dead or remain trapped under the rubble
we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive.' Barry Cohen, 63, said he and his wife were asleep in the building when he first heard what he thought was a crack of lightning.
The couple went onto their balcony, then opened the door to the building's hallway to find 'a pile of rubble and dust and smoke billowing around'.
'I couldn´t walk out past my doorway,' said Cohen, the former vice mayor of Surfside. 'A gaping hole of rubble.'
He and his wife eventually made it to the basement and found rising water there. They returned upstairs, screamed for help and were eventually brought to safety by firefighters using a cherry-picker.
Cohen said he raised concerns years ago about whether nearby construction might be causing damage to the building after seeing cracked pavers on the pool deck.
Jennifer Carr was asleep in a neighboring building when she was awakened by a loud boom and her room shook. She thought it was a thunderstorm but checked the weather app on her phone and saw none. The building´s fire alarms went off, and she and her family went outside and saw the collapse.
'It was devastation,' Carr said. 'People were running and screaming.'
Nicolas Fernandez was waiting early Thursday for word on close family friends who lived in the collapsed section of the building.
'Since it happened, I´ve been calling them nonstop, just trying to ring their cellphones as much as we can to hep the rescue to see if they can hear the cellphones.'
Santo Mejil, 50, told the Miami Herald his wife called him from the building, where she was working as an aide for an elderly woman.
'She said she heard a big explosion. It felt like an earthquake,' Mejil told the newspaper. He said she later called him and said rescuers were bringing her down.
Crowds of people were gathering at a family reunification center set up nearby as they awaited news on their family and friends
Authorities say the building was 'substantially full' when it collapsed. Of the building's 136 apartments, 55 were destroyed. Families are pictured at a family reunification center on Thursday morning
Pictures and videos from the scene suggest a full section of the tower collapsed (pictured), which left huge piles of debris lying at the corner of Collins Avenue
One woman has died and at least nine people are injured, including a firefighter, following the collapse just before 1.30am, according to local media reports. One person is said to be in critical condition. Pictured: The partially collapsed building
There have been dozens of people impacted by the collapse (pictured: the partially collapsed building), according to local media, but authorities have not yet confirmed any details of potential casualties
Witness Kimberly Morales, who lives across the street, told CNN she was woken up by alarms going off and people pounding on her door, as she didn't hear the building collapse. Pictured: A portion of the condo tower crumbled to the ground
Southbound traffic is being diverted west on 96th Street and northbound traffic is being diverted at 85th Street and Collins Avenue as authorities continue with the rescue operation (right), Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (left) confirmed
Freelance journalist Joel Franco, who was on the scene, claimed that the fire department had managed to rescue some people from their balconies. Pictured: Emergency personnel working at the scene
One witness, who was staying in the south Florida island city with his family, was in a neighboring building at the time and said the collapse sounded and felt like a tornado or earthquake.
'It was the craziest thing I ever heard in my life,' he told Fox News.
Witnesses claimed to have heard people screaming beneath the rubble during frantic efforts to free them from the wreckage of the building.
One witness told NBC: 'They are able to rescue some people but I heard some screams.'
When the building initially collapsed, more than 80 rescue units were on the scene, including designated teams skilled in retrieving bodies from wreckages.
The sea-view condo development was built in 1981 in the southeast corner of Surfside, on the beach. It had a few two-bedroom units currently on the market, with asking prices of $600,000 to $700,000.
The area is a mix of new and old apartments, houses, condominiums and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists.
The community provides a stark contrast from bustle and glitz of South Beach with a slower paced neighborhood feel.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue confirmed that more than 80 units (right), including Technical Rescue Teams, were at the scene of the collapse (left)
The building, a twelve-story apartment block called Champlain Towers South (pictured), collapsed in the early hours of this morning.
A view inside one of the apartments at Champlain Towers South
President of Paraguay's sister-in-law among 51 missing after Miami condo collapse
The president of Paraguay's sister-in-law and her family are among the 51 people currently unaccounted for in Miami after the 12-story apartment building collapsed overnight - as families desperately await news of their loved ones.
Sophia López Moreira, her husband Luis Pettengill and their three young children are still missing, Paraguay’s foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday.
The family own a condo inside the Champlain Towers South beachfront building that collapsed at about 1.30am this morning in Miami's Surfside neighborhood.
Moreira is the sister of President Mario Abdo BenÃtez's wife Silvana. The family are said to have received their COVID-19 vaccines hours before the collapse, which also happened on Luis's birthday.
Another woman from Paraguay, Lady Luna Villalba, is also missing in the aftermath of the disaster.
Families have started sharing images of their missing relatives as authorities launched a huge search and rescue mission to trawl the rubble for any survivors.
Sophia López Moreira, her husband Luis Pettengill and their three young children are among those unaccounted for in Miami after the 12-story apartment building collapsed overnight. Moreira is the sister of President Mario Abdo BenÃtez's wife Silvana
Andres Galfrascoli (left) his partner Fabian Nunez, right, and their newly adopted daughter Sofia, who was six, died while visiting their apartment in Florida to get vaccinated
Also missing is a famed Argentinian plastic surgeon, his partner, and their newly-adopted six year-old daughter.
Edgar Gonzalez, who lived on the ninth floor with his family, is still unaccounted, his relatives told NBC. Gonzalez's wife and daughter are currently being treated in hospital, according to the family
That surgeon - Andres Galfrasconi, 45 - was visiting Miami with his partner Fabian Nunez, 55, and their daughter Sofia, six, to receive their COVID-19 vaccines.
Argentinian singer Julia Zenko was one of Galfrasconi's clients, with Zyri.net reporting she was 'very distressed' by his disappearance following the collapse.
The couple and their daughter were staying at an apartment owned by an unidentified friend, who says she has not been able to contact them.
Edgar Gonzalez, who lived on the ninth floor with his family, is still unaccounted, his relatives told NBC.
Gonzalez's wife and daughter are currently being treated in hospital, according to the family.
The family of Luis Barth say the 51-year-old was visiting from Colombia and was staying in a friend's condo with his wife and daughter.
Barth's brother Sergio, who lives in Miami, told the New York Times the condo they were staying in was on the collapsed side and that he has been unable to reach him.
Dr Brad Cohen, who is an orthopedic surgeon at a local hospital, hadn't been heard from since 3am. His wife, Soriya Cohen, said he lived on the 10th floor.
More than 100 people gathered at a family reunification center by mid-morning on Thursday as they awaited news on their family and friends.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman told CNN that officials have yet to account for 51 people who are believed to have lived in the building.
It was unclear whether any, or all of them, were inside at the time of the collapse.
The family of Luis Barth say the 51-year-old was visiting from Colombia and was staying in a friend's condo with his wife and daughter. The condo was on the collapsed side and no one has heard from any of them
Dr Brad Cohen, who is an orthopedic surgeon at a local hospital, hadn't been heard from since 3am. His wife, Soriya Cohen, said he lived on the 10th floor
No comments: