Rescuers Searching For Survivors After Florida Building Collapse

Rescuers search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building in south Florida.

Residents of the 12-story residential building in Surfside, Florida were jolted awake around 1:30 a.m. Thursday by a deafening bang.

Shortly after, about a third of the building crashed down.

As of Thursday afternoon local time, rescue teams have accounted for 102 people, pulling 37 out of the rubble.

But 99 people are still missing.

“The problem is the building has literally pancaked. It has gone down. And I mean, there’s just feet in between stories where there were 10 feet. That is heartbreaking because it doesn’t mean to me, that we’re going to be successful, as successful as we would want to be to find people alive.”

So far, there has been one confirmed death and 11 people injured.

Local residents that have missing friends and family in the building are waiting for any news.

“Yes, we have that apartment and they’re friends of the family. And just today they had decided to stay the night of all days, they chose the worst one to stay there and this happened.”

More than 80 rescue units are at the scene, working non-stop to look for survivors.

They’re using dogs, cameras and listening devices to find signs for life. Firefighters at the scene said that they had heard some banging noises from underneath the rubble.

Rescue crews are working through the night in 15-minute shifts each wearing 80-pounds of gear.

But the rescue mission is slow-going, as crew members have to manually remove the debris due to the unstable condition of the building.

The Biden administration has offered federal aide to “make sure everything is in place”.

And Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis has issued a state of emergency to help the impacted families.

The condo building was built in the 1980s and was reportedly going through some roofwork at the time of collapse.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during Thursday’s press conference that the cause of the collapse has not yet been pinned down.