Eyewitness reports of bodies pulled from Miami building collapse

Family members are fearing for the worst as rescuers rush to find survivors inside the wreckage of the Miami building collapse.

Rescue crews have heard potential signs of life coming from the rubble of the partially collapsed oceanfront Florida apartment tower, but family members are fearing for the worst with 159 still missing.

The official death toll has risen to four, with a number of Australians believed to be missing.

“We do have 120 people now accounted for, which is very, very good news. But our unaccounted for number has gone up to 159,” Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference. “We will continue search and rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive.”

Ms Cava described the dedication of the dozens of rescuers on site as “incredibly moving.” “They are totally, totally motivated to find people. They have to be pulled off the shift,” she said.

US President Joe Biden declared an emergency early Friday in response to the disaster, ordering federal assistance for the relief effort.

At a Surfside community centre, relatives of the missing wept as they waited for news. Occupants who were lucky enough to have been away when disaster struck pondered sudden homelessness.

Sally Noriega is fearing for her 91-year-old mother-in-law Hilda Noriega, who lived in the building and has not been heard from since the building's collapse.

“My mind tells me there is no way she could have survived such a massive collapse, but I believe in a God that can do anything,” she said via the New York Times. 

People hug as they wait for news about relatives at the Community Center in Surfside north of Miami Beach, Florida.

“These first responders are going in through tunnels, they’re working from the top, they’re working from the bottom,” Mayor Levine Cava said. “It has to be done very, very carefully. They can’t dislodge pieces of debris that could injure them in the process. They can’t dislodge debris that could possibly make it more difficult to continue the search.”

Search teams detected sounds of banging and other noises but no voices coming from the mounds of debris.

Miami resident Joseph Waks said he had not been able to contact an elderly Australian couple who were believed to have been inside the Surfside apartment building.

“I am originally from Australia — we have friends who live in that building from Australia and they are unable to be communicated with,” Mr Waks said. “They both became grandparents yet again a few hours before the tragedy.”

Mr Waks told Nine News the couple were from Sydney but had lived in Melbourne and split their time between Australia and Miami.

People hug as they wait for news about relatives at the Community Center in Surfside north of Miami Beach, Florida.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it was aware of reports that Australians may have been involved in the collapse.

“The Australian embassy in Washington is closely monitoring developments and making urgent enquiries to determine if any Australians were affected,” a spokesperson said.

Erick de Moura, 40, happened to spend Wednesday night at his girlfriend’s house, so he was not present at the time of the collapse.

“I just came back and the scene is shocking,” he said. “There is a lot of pain. I’m blessed that I am alive.”

Rescue workers are reportedly having to be pulled off shifts as they search for survivors.

The likelihood of a far deadlier outcome has now emerged, with Miami Beach state senator Jason Pizzo visiting the scene and saying he watched rescuers “pull bodies” from the remains of a large portion of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, near Miami Beach, the Miami Herald reported.

Mr Pizzo said he saw staff under Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Dr Emma Lew taking the remains of one person in a yellow body bag, while another body was marked for removal.

RELATED: 99 missing in Miami building collapse

An eyewitness has reported seeing bodies being pulled from the rubble. Picture: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP.

The grim scene unfolded as US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration, clearing the way for federal assistance in the state.

“The President’s action authorises the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency to co-ordinate all disaster relief efforts,” according to a White House statement early on Friday US time.

Eleven people have been treated for injuries, four of whom were taken to local hospitals, officials said. The number of people who have been located stands at 102, according to Levine-Cava, who said they were “declared safe.”

Some of the 99 people who remain unaccounted for may not have been in the building at the time of the collapse, she noted. It was occupied by a mix of full-time and seasonal residents and renters.

Dramatic video of a young boy being rescued from the rubble after a partial building collapse in #Surfside near 88th and Collins Ave.

Part of the Champlain Towers went down as people were sleeping. 1 person has died, at least 9 went to the hospital. @[e-mail]/MkxNLkcf14

— Brooke Shafer (@BrookeShaferTV) June 24, 2021

Raide Jadallah, assistant fire chief of operations for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, said that 37 people were pulled from the partially collapsed, 136-unit building.

Meanwhile, scores of relatives awaited word on their loved ones at a family reunification centre almost 24 hours after the 12-story building collapsed into a massive pile of rubble about 1.30am Thursday.

Among the missing are Myriam Caspi Notkin, 81, and her husband Arnold “Arnie” Notkin, 87, the Miami Herald reported.

North Miami Beach Commissioner Fortuna Smukler, who grew up with the Notkins’ three daughters about 50 years ago, told the paper that she began losing hope when she learned that the couple lived in apartment number 302.

They’re an elderly couple and Arnie wasn’t walking well, Ms Smukler told the Herald, adding that she has spoken to the devastated daughters.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel spray water on a fire in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP.

“At this point it would be a miracle … we’re hoping for a miracle,” she said.

Also unaccounted for is 65-year-old mother and grandmother Judy Spiegel, NBC Miami reported.

“We’re just hoping and praying that we’ll have some type of good news and hoping for a miracle,” Ms Spiegel’s daughter, Rachel, told the news outlet.

The missing woman’s husband said: “My wife Judy, she’s an amazing person, college graduate, Series 7 license, real estate philanthropist,” adding that “she’s a tireless fighter to raise the experience of patients in health care and she’s been amazing.”

Rubble hangs from the partially collapsed building. Picture: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP.

What caused the 40-year-old building to collapse in a matter of seconds remains unknown, though local officials said the tower was undergoing roof construction and other repairs.

“Fire and rescue are in there with their search team, with their dogs. It’s a very dangerous site right now. Very unstable,” Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said on Thursday. “They’re in search-and-rescue mode, and they will be in that mode for a while. They are not quitting. They’re going to work through the night. They are not stopping.”

Chilling footage captured by a nearby surveillance camera showed an entire side of the building crumbling in two sections, one after the other, in billowing clouds of dust that spread across the neighbourhood.

“It looks like a bomb went off.”

Charles Burkett, mayor of Surfside, Florida, joins us to talk about the partial collapse of a condo building near Miami Beach and the rescue efforts underway. “This is a catastrophic failure of that building,” Burkett says. pic.twitter.com/4xlVuj80bm

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 24, 2021

“At first it sounded like a flash of lightning or thunder,” said Barry Cohen, a former Surfside vice mayor and building resident who was rescued along with his wife.

But then it just kept on — steadily for at least 15 to 30 seconds — it just kept on going and going and going,” he said, adding that there had been construction for more than a month on the building’s roof.

Florida governor Rob DeSantis told reporters late Thursday: “It’s a really, really tragic situation so we’ll hope for the best in terms of additional recoveries, but we are bracing for some bad news just given the destruction that we’re seeing.”

This story first appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission