Florida Condo Building Crumbles: 'It Felt Like an Earthquake'

At least one dead, 8 injured after Champlain Towers South condo partially collapses
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2021 6:23 AM CDT
Updated Jun 24, 2021 6:40 AM CDT
At 2am, Half a Florida Condo Building Crumbled
A partially collapsed building is seen early Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami, Fla.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Search and rescue efforts continue after a condo tower partially collapsed overnight in the town of Surfside, Fla., just north of Miami Beach. Sources tell CBS Miami that at least one person has died, while ABC11 reports at least eight have been hospitalized with injuries, with one person said to be in critical condition. Per the Miami Herald, part of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo facing the beach on Collins Avenue crumbled around 2am on Thursday. The paper notes that about half the tower appears to have been affected. One man whose wife was staying in the condo as an overnight caretaker says, "She said she heard a big explosion. It felt like an earthquake."

More than 80 units responded to the scene to help conduct rescue efforts, with multiple fire departments joining the county's Technical Rescue Team, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue tells NBC 6. The Washington Post reports that firefighters could be seen using ladders to get people out of sections of the condo that hadn't collapsed. CBS reports a boy of about 10 was rescued, and NBC 6 has video of a child (perhaps the same boy) being pulled alive from the rubble. The scene looked "like a bomb hit," a witness tells the outlet, which notes the condo, built in 1981, has more than 130 units. Insider notes the condo tower is located about a block away from where Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are leasing a home. It hasn't yet been said what may have caused the collapse. This is a still-developing story. (More building collapse stories.)

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