Courtesy-NDTV
Hardly a day after a large section of a seaside apartment building collapsed into a pile of rubble along with rescuers combing through concrete and metal in search of those missing, around 160 people remained unaccounted for while four were confirmed to have lost their lives in the incident on Friday.
Possible survivors from under and atop the remains of the building were been tried to reach by scores of firefighters who were working overnight to rescue them. While Freddy Ramirez, Miami-Dade police director informed that the authorities were working along with the medical examiner’s office to identify the victims after a person was initially reported dead, around three bodies were removed overnight. With four people being treated at various hospitals, around 11 injuries were reported.
Structural engineers are on-site to ensure that the rescuers are not injured while they go through an extreme risk going through the rubble since the debris keeps falling on them as they do their work, as stated by Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade mayor.
The 12 storeys Champlain Towers South attracted people from across the globe to enjoy life on Southern Florida’s Atlantic coast, the work focused on what was left of the building. Awaiting the results of DNA swaps that could help identify victims, several people remained at a reunification centre which was hastily set up near the site of the collapse on Friday.
Creating a din of crashing glass and metal as they were picked up and dumped to the side, two heavy cranes began moving debris from the pile using large claws hit by gusty winds and rain on Friday.