Five dead, over 156 missing as a building in Florida collapses
Florida : A total of five confirmed deaths have been reported in a building collapse in the US' Florida. Over 156 people are still missing.
"Death toll in Florida building collapse climbs to 5," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told AFP. She also mentioned that the crew struggling to find people in the debris found other unspecified human remains.
The remains found in the debris are being sent for the examination; the crew is also gathering DNA samples from family members to identify them.
The Champlain Towers South condominium, built in 1981, partially collapsed around 1:30 a.m. local time on Thursday in the beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach.
Nearly 130 apartments have been reportedly damaged in the incident, according to the local media report.
All the numbers are “fluid” because some residents may not have been in the building when it collapsed, the mayor said, noting that rescuers will “continue searching because we still have hope that we will find people alive.”
US President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency authorising funding and other disaster relief to Surfside. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending support, the mayor said.
