Firefighters and dangling rubble: Photos show devastation after a high-rise condo collapsed in Florida
Azmi Haroun
- One person is dead, and at least 99 are unaccounted for after a building partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida.
- A section of the building crumbled after 1 a.m. on Thursday.
- Photos below show the sheer devastation as rescue efforts are ongoing.
A view of the Champlain Towers South, located on Collins Avenue in Surfside, Florida, after the collapse around 1 a.m. on Thursday.
The way the building collapsed is making it difficult for rescue teams to locate survivors, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said on Thursday.
A zoomed-in shot after the collapse shows tattered units and belongings.
"The problem is the building has literally pancaked," Burkett said. "It's heartbreaking because it doesn't mean, to me, that we're going to be successful, as successful as we want to be, to find people alive."
Firefighters helping a man evacuate his unit early Thursday morning.
As of Thursday evening just before 5:00 p.m., 102 have been accounted for and at least 99 people remain unaccounted for, officials said.
An aerial view of the building collapse on Thursday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference on Thursday that Florida is "bracing for some bad news given the destruction that we're seeing."
Since early Thursday morning, rescue crews have been on the scene.
"It looks like a bomb went off, but we are pretty sure a bomb didn't go off," Mayor Burkett said Thursday.
On Thursday evening, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah called the search "slow and methodical," said that they were using sonar and canine teams. Jadallah noted that there is a parking garage that's beneath the building and rescues are attempting to tunneling to different floors.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference on Thursday in Tampa, Florida.
"It's a really, really tragic situation, so we'll hope for the best in terms of additional recoveries," DeSantis said on Thursday.
florida building collapse firefighters respond
According to officials, 37 in total were pulled from the site — 35 victims from the structure, and two victims from the rubble. Eleven patients were being treated, and four were transported to a hospital. One person is confirmed dead.
"Every time we start breaching parts of the structure we do get debris falling on us," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah said on Thursday evening.
Residents look on at the damage after authorities cordon off the area.
NBC Miami footage on Thursday morning showed a 10-year-old boy being pulled from the rubble.
A family reunification center was set up at the Surfside Community center.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said that more than 80 rescue units were helping at the scene of the collapse.
Survivors and family members from the Champlain Towers South at the Surfside Community Center.
Champlain Towers South florida collapse
Bunkbeds from an apartment unit destroyed in the collapse.
The land around the Florida condo that collapsed was showing signs of sinking, according to a 2020 study.
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