159 People Are Missing And At Least 4 Are Dead After A Condo Collapses In Miami
Miami, Florida. Champlain Towers is a 12-story condo building with 136 apartments in it that sat at 8777 Collins Avenue.
At 1:30 in the morning this past Thursday, Miami-Dade Police Department and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue rushed to the scene of the condo building after nearly half of it collapsed into a pile.
“MDFR crews found that the northeast corridor of the building had sustained a partial collapse,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement posted on June 24th at 11:14 in the morning.
“Approximately 55 apartment units were impacted by the collapse. MDFR began search & rescue efforts. Firefighters rescued 35 occupants from inside the building.”
“Out of the 35, 10 occupants were treated for injuries and two were transported to local-area hospitals.”
Unfortunately, now 159 people are still missing and at least 4 people are dead.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue; pictured above is the scene of the condo collapse
“Heavy machinery is being used in order to carefully lift and move around debris to access search areas,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue provided in an update.
As for how a tragedy like this could even happen in the first place, it seems that it might be due in part to “concrete deterioration.”
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While nothing has been provided as the official cause of the collapse yet, there are many concerning details about the state of the condo that have been publicly shared.
Last night, 12 different documents were shared by the town of Surfside that help provides some insight into the tragedy, and the town will be posting more information as it becomes available.
One of these documents pointed to”abundant cracking and spalling of varying degrees were observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls” in the parking garage of the condo.
“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the report continued.
If you have any loved ones that live in the condo, you can go here to have authorities conduct a wellness check.
Pictured below are more photos from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue showing the damage done to the building and the search and rescue efforts.
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