Building collapse, A vacant building demolished collapsed onto a thrift store in downtown Philadelphia Wednesday morning, trapping more than a dozen people under the rubble, city officials said.
Two people remained trapped under "tons of rubble," early Wednesday afternoon, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers told reporters.
"We have located them and we're going to continue until we can get them out and we can get them to hospitals," he said.
Twelve other people were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.
its delicate. This is dangerous work," Mayor Michael Nutter said.
The building collapsed onto the Salvation Army Thrift Store next door with an ominous rumble, witnesses said.
"I was in my office in
the high rise across the street and felt and heard a rumbling, a very
unusual sound," witness Ari Barker said.
Kate Slyman said she felt the ground rumbling as the building collapsed.
"The first thing that came to my mind was a terrorist attack," she said.
Philadelphia Police described the collapse as an "industrial accident."
There were "no existing
violations" at the building that collapsed in Philadelphia on Wednesday,
injuring at 12 people, a city building inspector said.
The collapse occurred
Wednesday morning in a heavily traveled area of downtown Philadelphia
near the Mutter Museum, a popular tourist destination that houses
medical oddities.
The museum was closed Wednesday due to the collapse, it said on Twitter.
University of
Pennsylvania Hospital was treating four patients from the collapse,
according to hospital spokesman Stephen Graff. Hahnemann University
Hospital is treating two patients, according to hospital spokeswoman
Gianna DeMedio. They are were fair condition.
Bystanders and construction workers rushed in to search for people trapped under the rubble, Barker said.
Rescue crews soon
arrived and asked the public and news helicopters to back off to allow
searchers to listen for people trapped under the debris.
"We're asking the public to stay out of the area to allow the rescue workers access," the police department said in a tweet.
The Occupational Safety
and Health Administration has been told it was an accident at a
demolition site, and it has investigators on the way, representative
Leni Fortson said.
A witness, Jordan
McLaughlin, told CNN affiliate KYW, that a building "collapsed the wrong
way and landed on a thrift shop" that had people inside.
McLaughlin said he and
others rushed to help people out of the rubble. He said he helped two
people out, and saw up to five others escape within the first 10
minutes.
The fire department was
called to the site at 10:43 a.m., Capt. Jeffrey Thompson told CNN.
Thompson said it wasn't immediately clear whether it was an apartment
building or an adjacent building scheduled for demolition.
Video from WPVI
showed two people helping a third person, apparently hurt, away from
the rubble. It also showed emergency personnel walking on and around
rubble on an exposed area of a ground floor
Building collapse news via cnn Tolong Share ya ^^
