Miami building collapse: Huge search for survivors
A 12-storey building has partially collapsed in Miami-Dade County, Florida killing at least one person.
Images have emerged of the huge operation underway after the building’s collapse resulted in a huge pile of rubble hanging down one side of a residential building.
At least eight people have been injured, and according to US media, there are fears that others might be trapped.
The building collapsed at around 02:00 (07:00 GMT).
80 fire rescue vehicles have been sent to the scene and police are also assisting in the rescue operation.
‘Big explosion’
The building contains more than 100 beachfront apartments and was built in 1981. Police gave the location as 8777 Colling Avenue – the address of Champlain Towers.
Santo Mejil, 50, was woken when his wife called from a unit on the ninth floor of one of the three buildings that make up Champlain Towers. She is an overnight caretaker for an elderly disabled woman.
“She said she heard a big explosion,” Mr Mejil told the Miami Herald. “It felt like an earthquake.” His wife was among those rescued.
A man who lives in a building next door described what happened for CBS: “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.”
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