Miami building collapse: rescuers search rubble for survivors

Miami building collapse: rescuers search rubble for survivors
# 24 June 2021 18:41 (UTC +04:00)

A huge rescue operation is under way in Miami-Dade County, Florida, after a 12-storey building partially collapsed, killing at least one person, APA reports citing BBC.

Images from Surfside, north of Miami Beach, show a huge pile of rubble hanging down one side of a residential apartment building.

One woman died, at least eight people were injured and there are fears that others are trapped in the debris.

The collapse is said to have occurred at around 02:00 (07:00 GMT).

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said they had sent 80 vehicles to the scene. Police are also assisting with the rescue operation.

The death of the woman was reported by an Associated Press reporter and the broadcaster CBS, quoting their own sources.

A man who lives in a building next door described what happened: "The building shook and then I looked out the window and you couldn't see, I thought it was like a storm or something coming in.

"When the dust cleared, the back two-thirds of the building was gone, it was down to the ground."

The Associated Press reporter tweeted that, according to her team's sources, a boy aged about 10 had been rescued.

Police gave the building's location as 8777 Collins Avenue, the address of the 12-storey Champlain Towers, which contains more than 100 beachfront apartments.

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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED