- Title: Search and rescue efforts continue at scene of Miami partial building collapse
- Date: 24th June 2021
- Summary: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 24, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SMOKE AROUND BUILDING WHERE PARTIAL COLLAPSE OCCURRED PAN FROM POLICE TAKE TO BUILDING WITH SMOKE AROUND IT BYSTANDERS ON BEACH LOOKING AT BUILDING POLICE MOVING CONES AND TAPE ON BEACH VARIOUS TIGHT SHOTS OF DAMAGE TO BUILDING VARIOUS SIDE VIEW OF BUILDING AND COLLAPSE AS SHOT FROM STREET AMBULANCES GENERAL VIEW OF BUILDING AND PARTIAL COLLAPSE TILT DOWN OF BUILDING WOMAN TAKING PICTURE OF BUILDING
- Embargoed: 8th July 2021 21:22
- Keywords: Surfside partial building collapse search and rescue
- Location: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- City: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EIRIDL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Rescue crews near Miami began the daunting task of searching through tons of rumble for victims and anyone who may have survived the collapse of part of an oceanfront residential tower early on Thursday (June 24), with at least one person already found dead and more than 50 unaccounted for.
Sally Heyman, a Miami-Dade County Commissioner, said officials have been unable to make contact with 51 people who "supposedly" live in the building, home to a mix of people including families and part-time "snow birds" who spend the winter months in the state of Florida.
Officials said the building, built in 1981, was going through a rectification process requiring repairs and that another building was being newly constructed next door, although the cause of the collapse remained unclear.
A fire official said 35 people were rescued from the building in Surfside, a seaside enclave of 5,700 residents on a barrier island across Biscayne Bay from the city of Miami, including two who were pulled from the rubble as response teams used trained dogs and drones in a search for survivors.
The search and rescue effort was slowed by at least one fire that burned at the site as firefighters doused the rubble with water, local media reported.
Emergency responders and officials were still looking for people who might be in the rubble, as well as trying to identify residents not home at 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), when an entire side of the building pulled away and fell to the ground below.
The Champlain Towers South had more than 130 units, about 80 of which were occupied. It had been subject to various inspections recently due to the recertification process and the adjacent construction of a building called 88 Park, Surfside Commissioner Charles Kesl told Local 10.
The Miami-Dade Police have assumed control of the investigation. More than 80 fire and rescue units responded, the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department wrote in a Twitter message early Thursday.
(Production: Octavio Jones, Arlene Eiras & Kristin Neubauer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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