Daily US Times: Florida officials say at least one person has died and dozens of others are missing after the collapse of a 12-storey residential building collapse north of Miami, Florida.
According to Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine-Cava, the number of people who have been located now stands at 102, while 99 are still unaccounted for.
It is not clear how many people were in the building at the time.
The cause of the building collapse – affecting about half of the 130 units in the complex – still not clear.
The building in the town of Surfside was built in 1980.
A number of Latin American migrants have been reported missing by their consulates in the US.
Paraguayan officials said, relatives of the first lady of Paraguay are also among the missing. Rescuers were not able to contact the sister and brother-in-law of first lady Silvana López Moreira, along with their three children and a domestic worker.
Officials said rescuers pulled 35 people from the wreckage. Ten were treated, of whom two were sent to hospital.
Rescue and search teams are working from a parking garage underneath the wreckage as they explore the rubble for survivors.
Miami-Dade fire chief Raide Jadallah said a small fire broke out during the search but was extinguished within 20 minutes.
He said they had been using search cameras and sonars as well as specially trained dogs, but it was a “slow and methodical” process because of the risk of shifting rubble.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told a news conference: “The back of the building, probably a third or more, is totally pancaked.”
You may read: Rescuers search rubble for survivors after 12-story building collapsed
