FLORIDA (Foxnews): Dozens of rescuers in South Florida are searching for survivors Thursday after an apartment building partially collapsed, prompting a massive emergency response.
Surfside police told Fox News it is unclear how many people were inside the building at the time, but a firefighter on the scene could be heard saying there are multiple casualties.
“Over 80 MDFR units including #TRT (Technical Rescue Teams) are on scene with assistance from municipal fire departments,” Miami Dade Fire Rescue said in a tweet.
Firefighters pulled at least one boy from the debris, according to photos online. A reporter from CBS Miami said at at least nine people were transported to the hospital.
The building address is 8777 Collins Avenue, according to Surfside police. The sea-view condo development was built in 1981 in the southeast corner of Surfside, on the beach. It had a few two-bedroom units currently on the market, with asking prices of $600,000 to $700,000, police said.
One witness who was on vacation in the city with his family told Fox News he was next door when it suddenly sounded like a tornado or earthquake.
“It was the craziest thing I ever heard in my life,” he said.
He added that he believed much of the building was occupied.
He estimated that the collapse occurred at about 1:20 a.m.
Joel Franco, a Miami-based freelance journalist, was live-tweeting from the scene. He noted that an urban search-and-rescue truck was at the scene. He posted another photo that he said showed about a dozen people who were rescued. Two were embracing. He posted, “This is tough to document.”
A bedroom is seen in part of the collapsed building.
A bedroom is seen in part of the collapsed building. (SOURCE: WSVN)
“I did see some family members being rescued by a crane from the Miami-Dade Fire Department,” he said.
The building is one block away from where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are leasing a condominium, according to The Wall Street Journal.
