Rescuers were searching for survivors in the rubble Saturday after a 40-year-old South Florida beachside condo building collapsed, killing at least four people and leaving 159 unaccounted for.
Investigators were working to determine what caused part of the Champlain Towers South, a 12-story condominium, “pancaked” in the town of Surfside, Florida, shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday.
About half of the building’s more than 130 units were affected, said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Why the building collapsed is not immediately known. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the roof was being worked on recently, but he did not think that caused the building to fall. A study published in 2020 also found the building was sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters