Almost 100 People Missing As Ocean-Front Miami Area Collapses
Following the rubble of part of an oceanfront apartment tower overnight near Miami on Thursday, efforts for looking for survivors started. The officials have reported at least one person dead and nearly 100 missing.
Deborah Chelangat 
The cause of the 40-year-old high-rise tumble was not immediately known, though local officials said the 12-story tower was undergoing roof construction and other repairs. US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts after the collapse.
Rescue crews picked through tons Search teams detected sounds of banging and other noises but no voices coming from the mounds of debris hours after a large section of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, a barrier island town across Biscayne Bay from the city, crumbled to the ground.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters 99 people remained unaccounted for some 18 hours after the collapse, though some may not have been in the building at the time. Another 102 individuals whose whereabouts were initially unknown have since been located and “declared safe”.
A fire official said earlier that 35 people were evacuated from the portion of the high-rise left standing, and response teams using trained dogs and drones in the search of survivors pulled two individuals from the rubble - one of them was dead. "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 earlier in the day. "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."
