Daily US Times: A huge rescue operation is underway in Miami, Florida, after a 12-storey residential building partially collapsed, killing at least one person.

Rescuers are combing the rubble were seen pulling a boy out alive and searching for any trapped survivors.

Images from Surfside, north of Miami Beach, show a pile of debris on one side of the building. At least eight people have been reportedly injured.

The building collapsed at about 02:00 local time.

Miami-Dade country Fire Rescue said it had sent 80 vehicles to the scene and police are also assisting with the rescue operation.

The death of a woman was reported by an Associated Press (AP) reporter, quoting their own sources. Florida news site Local 10 also reported a death, quoting a fire rescue officials working in the scene.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told the Miami Herald that the cause of the collapse was still not known.

Police gave the building’s location as 8777 Collins Avenue, which is the address of the 12-storey Champlain Towers, which contains more than 100 beachfront apartments and was built in 1981.

Surfside runs along Collins Avenue, north of Miami Beach city limits.

Rescuers could be seen using a crane to reach residents in nearby apartments in order to help them evacuate.

One eyewitness said CBS Miami: “Basically we heard a really big rumble and we thought it was a motorcycle, you know, and we turned around and saw a cloud of dust just coming our way.”

A man who witnessed the aftermath of the building collapse told CNN, “It looked like something from 9/11,” referring to the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

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