Authorities in Florida on Thursday declared 99 people were still missing following the partial collapse of a 12-story oceanfront residential building in the community of Surfside, with at least one person dead.
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The town has a large population of Jews, and at least two are among the missing according to officials, but local members of the community fear the number is much higher.
Thirty-six survivors have been pulled out, including at least one child in reportedly good condition,and rescuers kept up a desperate search for more.
A wing of the 12-story building came down with a roar around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. Officials did not know how many were in the tower when it fell.
"The building is literally pancaked," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said. "That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean, to me, that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive."
Video: Reuters
According to local Jewish community sources, at least 18 Jews were missing in the disaster. Synagogues in the area called on worshippers to offer their prayers for the safety of those still missing.
Rabbi Menachem Heruty, who leads a local Chabad chapter, told Israel Hayom that the city is home to "one of the largest Jewish communities in the Miami area." He added: There is a large synagogue nearby and 90% of the people in that area are Jewish, thousands. We pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."
He said that people could hear screams from residents who had been trapped by the debris. "It is my understanding that 10 were pulled out alive out of the rubble, but at least 18 Chabad members are missing, I think they are mostly adults."
Rabbi Aryeh Citron, the dean of Yeshivah College in Miami Beach, said: "To our sorrow, there are many people who have not been found. There are six who I know personally and another list of people that I don't know. We need a miracle. I live nearby, a few blocks away, but I didn't hear what happened until I woke up at around five in the morning, and then I saw the clamor on Whatsapp. My son woke up in the middle of the night and heard a lot of helicopters and fire trucks. There are many Jews who live in the area, among them those who are missing. We are not being allowed to reach the disaster area."
A total of 22 South Americans were missing in the collapse – nine from Argentina, six from Paraguay, four from Venezuela and three from Uruguay, according to officials in those countries.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke earlier with Israel's consul general in Miami, Maor Elbaz, who updated him on the state of operations on the ground.
Some 20 members of the local Jewish community, some with dual US-Israeli citizenship, are reported to be among those missing after the collapse.
Lapid also spoke with the head of the Jewish community in Miami, Jacob Solomon, the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.
"Foreign Ministry staff in Miami and Israel are doing everything they can to help those on the ground, the wounded and the families. It is a difficult and complex event and it will take time to deal with it. We are at their disposal for any assistance they may need," Lapid said in the statement.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who toured the scene, said television did not capture the scale of what happened.
Rescue crews are "doing everything they can to save lives. That is ongoing, and they're not going to rest," he said.
Teams of 10 to 12 rescuers at a time entered the rubble with dogs and other equipment, working until they grew tired from the heavy lifting, then making way for a new team, said Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, the state's fire marshal.
"They're not going to stop just because of nightfall," Patronis told Miami television station WPLG. "They just may have a different path they pursue."
Authorities did not say what may have caused the collapse. On video footage captured from nearby, the center of the building appeared to fall first, with a section nearest the ocean teetering and coming down seconds later as a huge dust cloud swallowed the neighborhood.
Work was being done on the building's roof, but Burkett said he did not see how that could have been the cause.
US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts.
"The president's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts," the White House said on Friday.
Hotels opened to some displaced residents, the mayor said, and deliveries of food, medicine and more were being hastily arranged.
Fortuna Smukler posted about the disaster on Facebook, hoping that someone would know the whereabouts of Myriam Caspi Notkin and Arnie Notkin, an elderly couple who lived on the third floor.
Arnie Notkin spent years teaching physical education at a local elementary school, said Smukler, a North Miami Beach commissioner who is friends with Myriam Notkin's daughters.
"He was such a well-liked P.E. teacher from people's past," she said. "Everyone's been posting, 'Oh my god, he was my coach.'"
"It would be a miracle if they're found alive," she added.
Nicholas Fernandez spent hours after the collapse trying to call two friends who were staying in the building with their young daughter. The family had come to the United States to avoid the COVID-19 outbreak in their home country of Argentina, said Fernandez, of Miami.
"The hope is that, perhaps, someone hears the call. I know there are dogs inside," he said. "I know it may sound ridiculous what I'm saying but there's always hope until we hear different."
Barry Cohen, 63, said he and his wife were asleep in the building when he first heard what he thought was a crack of thunder. The couple went onto their balcony, then opened the door to the building's hallway to find "a pile of rubble and dust and smoke billowing around."
"I couldn't walk out past my doorway," said Cohen, the former vice mayor of Surfside.
Surfside City Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told WPLG that the building's county-mandated 40-year recertification process was ongoing. Salzhauer said the process was believed to be proceeding without difficulty. A building inspector was on-site Wednesday.
"I want to know why this happened," Salzhauer said. "That's really the only question. ... And can it happen again? Are any other of our buildings in town in jeopardy?"
The seaside condo development was built in 1981.
The area has a mix of new and old apartments, houses, condominiums and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists. The main oceanside drag is lined with glass-sided, luxury condominium buildings, but more modest houses are on the inland side. Among the neighborhood's residents are snowbirds, Russian immigrants and Orthodox Jewish families.
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