A multi-storey residential building near Miami Beach in the US state of Florida partially collapsed – at least one person was killed. The search for other possible victims continues, the police announced on Twitter on Thursday. According to media reports, nine people were also injured, two of them life-threatening.
More people may still be trapped in the rubble, it said. At times, more than 80 units were in use, the fire brigade announced on Thursday night (local time) on Twitter. The rescuers also looked for victims with the help of sniffer dogs.
[Wenn Sie alle aktuellen Nachrichten live auf Ihr Handy haben wollen, empfehlen wir Ihnen unsere App, die Sie hier für Apple- und Android-Geräte herunterladen können.]
The accident occurred in Surfside not far from Miami Beach. Further details were not given. Officials also did not initially know about the cause of the collapse.
“It looks like a bomb went off,” said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, told NBC. “But we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a bomb, it was something else.”
His wife was a nurse and was in the building at the time of the accident, Santo Mejil told the Miami Herald newspaper. She told him on the phone that she heard “a big explosion”. “It felt like an earthquake,” she reported. The woman was saved, her husband reported.
Local broadcaster NBC 6 South Florida posted a video showing firefighters rescuing a boy from the rubble of the building and laying it on a stretcher. Unconfirmed reports suggest that nine people have been taken to hospitals.
It is not known how many people were in the house. In media reports it was said that the building had partially collapsed around 2 a.m. local time, and that the residents were surprised by the accident while they were sleeping. Some residents were able to use the stairs to get to safety. Others were saved via their balconies.
The building is said to be a twelve-story, ocean-view apartment building near the beach known as the Champlain Towers. It was built in the 1980s and has more than 100 apartments, wrote the newspaper “The Miami Herald”.
On pictures on the net a broken facade and numerous rubble and pieces of furniture from the house could be seen in the darkness. The area had been cordoned off widely by the police, it said. “I instruct everyone to stay away from the area so that the fire brigade can do their job,” said a police spokesman, according to media reports. Miami Beach with its famous promenade, the “Ocean Drive”, as well as the white sandy beaches and palm trees is also very popular with tourists. (dpa, AFP)
