One dead, 99 unaccounted for in Florida building collapse

SURFSIDE: A high-rise oceanfront apartment block near Miami Beach partially collapsed early Thursday, killing at least one person and leaving 99 unaccounted for, with fears the toll may rise much higher as rescuers comb through the rubble.

An unknown number of residents are feared to have been asleep in the 12-story building, in the town of Surfside, when the overnight collapse reduced a large portion of it to rubble, exposing the interiors of gutted apartments.

“One side of the building just fell completely. It doesn t exist anymore,” said Nicolas Fernandez, 29, an Argentinian resident of Miami who had yet to hear from friends who were staying overnight in his family s unit in the building.

“I don t know about them. I don t know if they are alive,” he told AFP.

Police said they were still without news of 99 people who may have been inside the apartment block at the time it collapsed.

“That could be for different reasons, we’re still in the early stages,” Freddy Ramirez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, told a news conference.

So far 102 others have been accounted for, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will step in to help with recovery efforts, she said.

“So we are all praying. We are all crying. We are all here with the suffering families,” Levine Cava said.

At least 18 Latin American nationals are known to be among the missing, according to the country s consulates. They are three Uruguayans, nine Argentines and six Paraguayans, among them the sister of the country s first lady.

Surfside also has a large Jewish population and several rabbis were at the scene to help with rescue operations.

Around 55 apartments were affected by the collapse, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah who told a news conference that emergency services arrived at the scene at around 1:30 am, evacuating 35 people from the building.

The building was occupied by a mix of full-time and seasonal residents and renters, and officials have stressed it is unclear how many people were actually inside at the time.

“It s hard to get a count on it,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman told CNN. “You don t know between vacations or anything else,” she said. “The hope is still there, but it s waning.”