Miami building collapse: At least one dead, several injured after incident in Florida

At least one person has died, several are injured, and a major search and rescue operation is still ongoing for survivors feared trapped inside a partially collapsed multi-storeyed residential building in Miami on Thursday, according to reports.

Surfside Mayor Charles W Burkett told CNN’s Leyla Santiago that there is at least one fatality from the collapse in Surfside, Florida — a person who was pronounced deceased at the hospital. CBS Miami said the person who died was a woman, and a boy of about 10 years of age was pulled out alive from the rubble.

“This is a horrific catastrophe. In the United States, buildings just don’t fall down,” Mr Burkett told CNN.

Miami-Dade county mayor Daniella Levine Cava tweeted: “My prayers are with all those impacted by this horrific tragedy and with their families. We are so grateful to @MiamiDadeFire, @MiamiBeachFire and all the first responders on the scene – may they stay safe while working to save lives.”

Resident Kimberly Morales who lives in the building across the street from told CNN that she told “everyone to hurry up and leave the building.”

The Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue department had earlier said it had sent over 80 units to the scene with assistance from municipal fire departments.

It said that a media staging area at a field near 86 Street & Collins Avenue has been set up.

“Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is on scene, they’re conducting rescues as we speak,” NBC Miami quoted Surfside Police Sgt Marian Cruz as saying. “It’s a very active scene, I advise everyone to just stay out of the area so that fire rescue and officers can conduct rescues and do what we need to do,” said Sgt Cruz.

Residents were reportedly being moved to the Surfside Community Centre and streets in the area were closed, according to NBC Miami.

Visuals from the scene showed a side of the building collapsed in a huge pile of debris and police cars pulling up, as fire trucks gathered in the street below, lights flashing.

The Miami Beach Police department also tweeted that they and the Miami Beach Fire Department & Ocean Rescue are assisting the town of Surfside in the rescue operations. There is no confirmation yet about whether there are people trapped inside the building or of any casualties.

Miami-based journalist Joel Franco who was at the scene, tweeted that urban search and rescue trucks were coming in to look for survivors.

“Some of these people were just rescued from the Surfside condo building that’s partially collapsed,” he tweeted, although there is no official confirmation on the rescue from authorities.

Mail Online reported that the building is an eleven-storey apartment block called Champlain Towers South and it was not known yet what caused the collapse.

“It looks like power has been cut for a portion of the area near the partial collapse,” Mr Franco said. Katie Daviscourt, a journalist with The Post Millennial, shared a video from the collapse site and said “Miami/Dade Fire and Rescue Team searching for bodies. This is horrific.”

For more details on this incident follow our live blog here.

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