61-year-old woman pulled from rubble ALIVE 12 hours after apartment block collapses on top of Philadelphia thrift store killing SIX
- - Philadelphia authorities confirm one person died when a four story building
- collapsed onto a Salvation Army thrift store
- - One victim is said to be a 35-year-old woman; Wednesday was her first day on the
- job at Salvation Army store
- - Myra Plekam, 61, was pulled from the debris; she was alert and talking
- - 13 other people were injured and rescued in the building collapse this morning in
- Center City
- - Mayor Michael Nutter confirms that all injured are in stable condition
- - One person is reportedly trapped under tons of rubble
By JAMES NYE and DAILY MAIL REPORTER
|
Searchers combing through the debris of a collapsed building and the remains of a damaged Salvation Army thrift store in Philadelphia pulled a woman from the rubble late Wednesday, a glimmer of hope after officials said at least six people had been killed and 13 others injured.
Deputy Fire Chief Robert Coyne said early Thursday that 61-year-old Myra Plekam was pulled — alert and talking to her rescuers — before she was put in an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.
Her condition was not immediately released.
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Dramatic moment: A dust cloud rises as people run from the scene of a building collapse on the edge of downtown Philadelphia, which killed six people
Rescue continues: Emergency personnel and others pull a man from the rubble
Seeking signs of life: A Philadelphia Firefighter, center, lays with his hand thrust into an empty area underneath a clothing rack
It was a quick burst of joy and optimism among the numerous firefighters, police and others slowly and steadily digging through the debris that burst forth when a building that was being torn down collapsed with a thunderous boom Wednesday, raining bricks on the thrift store.
Earlier, a somber Mayor Michael Nutter said those who died were one man and five women but authorities still didn't know how many people had been in the store or on the sidewalk when the accident happened.
Early reports had been that one woman had died in the Wednesday morning accident, but rescuers using buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble kept working through the evening, removing body bags at night.
Nutter said the city's emergency workers had been ‘diligent, determined, focused’ in their rescue efforts.
‘If anyone else is in that building, they will find them,’ he said.
A 35-year-old woman was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon at the site of the collapse. A second body was pulled from the rubble a few hours later. No other information about the victims was released.
At around 8.15pm, first responders recovered the body of a third victim at the site. A fourth victim was recovered by rescuers at about 10pm. According to officials, another person may be unaccounted for, the station CBS Philadelphia reported.
Emergency services frantically used their bare hands to rescue 13 people from the rubble of the Salvation Army shop after it came down on the corner of 22nd and Market at 10.45 a.m - the cause is yet unknown.
Desperate search: Firefighters and rescue workers search through rubble for trapped victims using heavy machinery and their bare hands for people following a building collapse in Philadelphia
Police officers talk each other while a truck removes debris from the site of the deadly collapse
Fatality: The building came crashing down with a thunderous boom, raining bricks on a neighboring thrift store and killing a woman
At least one person is still thought to be trapped under the debris in the Center City district of Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted that one man still missing is Borbor Davis, 68, who was last seen working inside the basement of the Salvation Army store. Wednesday evening, officials confirmed that Mr Davis was among the six people who were killed in the collapse.
Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said that the building which was connected to the Salvation Army store on the corner of 22nd and Market came down at 10.45 a.m. - the cause is yet unknown.
Ayers said the thirteen people have been taken to hospitals across the city.
'We're getting fresh personnel and staffing here to dig and we've had two dogs to come out and work the pile to locate others so we know exactly where to dig,' Ayers said at a press conference.
Collapse: Emergency personnel respond to a building collapse in downtown Philadelphia, where the city fire commissioner says 13 people were pulled from the rubble and one person is still trapped
Mess: Rescue personnel work the scene of a building collapse in downtown Philadelphia, Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Desperate: A four-story building being demolished collapsed Wednesday on the edge of downtown, injuring 13 people and trapping one other
Rescue crews were trying to extricate the two people who were trapped, city Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said
Rescuers were using buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble to search for survivors
Emergency personnel respond to a building collapse in downtown Philadelphia, where the city fire commissioner says 13 people were pulled from the rubble
Authorities have said they are not sure how many people were in the building when it came down.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called the building collapse a 'delicate and sensitive situation.'
Overhead crews show a large amount of rubble on the ground, people being taken away on stretchers and police and emergency crews and search dogs sifting through the rubble.
After the initial rescues, crews were talking with two people who remained trapped in the debris and were working to remove them.
'We have active movement in the walls,' said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers earlier in the day.
One of the two people who were trapped were taken out of the rubble at around 1 p.m. on a stretcher in seemingly good spirits.
Police have refused to say whether the confirmed death is the second person they say was trapped. The name of the 35-year-old victim was being withheld at the request of her family.
ABC New York has learned that Wednesday was the woman's first day on the job at the Salvation Army store.
Early reports suggest that a controlled demolition at the construction site next to the thrift shop could have been the cause.
One witness, Dan Gillis, 31, of Cinnaminson, New Jersey, a construction worker on a job across the street, told Reuters he saw a crane remove a supporting beam from the front of the building, and then the wall next to the thrift store started swaying.
Another witness, Jeffrey Fehnel, 48, of Philadelphia, said about the same time a backhoe hit the rear side of the building.
'The building came down. It was like a big blast,' Fehnel told Reuters.
Destroyed: A building has collapsed at 22nd and Market streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rescued: An injured woman is taken to an ambulance from the building that collapsed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, today
Emergency workers rush a survivor pulled from the rubble of a collapsed four-story
building to an ambulance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 05 June 2013
Media reports indicate thirteen people have been rescued from the rubble and possibly one person is still missing
Rescue workers search through rubble following a building collapse as seen in this aerial still image taken from video courtesy of NBC10.com, in Philadelphia June 5, 2013
Frantic: Rescue personnel removed debris from the area of a collapsed building in downtown Philadelphia Wednesday June 5, 2013
Philadelphia firefighters search through the rubble to find survivors of a building that collapsed today in Philadelphia
The collapse involved a Salvation Army corner thrift store and a four-story building next door
The thirteen people who were injured were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, said Philadelphia city fire chief
Firemen and rescue workers swarm the site of a building collapse looking for survivors at 22nd and Market Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Authorities said the cause of the collapse was still under investigation.
Marc Newell told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he heard an 'unbelievable rumble, like a freight train.'
'You could hear the moaning,' he told the paper.
Patrick Glynn and Anthony Soli were working on a roof atop a nearby building when they heard what sounded like two loud bangs or explosions.
They immediately ran down the scaffolding and helped pull out two women and a man.
Glynn said he had been watching workers take down the doomed building over the past few weeks, and said he suspected a collapse was inevitable because of the methods the workers were using to tear it down.
'For weeks they’ve been standing on the edge, knocking bricks off,' he said. 'You could just see it was ready to go at any time. I knew it was going to happen.'
The search and rescue teams split into two groups - one that focused on the back of the collapsed buildings and another which worked through the front of the thrift store.
Desperate rescuers initially used 'hands only' with no heavy equipment for the first hour - with some firefighters moving the rubble with buckets.
There are four dogs on the scene and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told FOX 29 that police are 'still pulling people out.'
Philadelphia police tweeted to the public, 'We're asking the public to stay out of the area to allow the rescue workers access.'
Old building being demolished on 22nd and Market St., Philadelphia - this picture was taken moments before the building collapsed in central Philadelphia
Firefighters sort through the rubble after building on 22nd and Market Street collapsed in Central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday
Saved: Philadelphia firefighters carry a survivor from the rubble of collapsed building at 22nd and Market streets in Philadelphia
Rescue workers search for victims and clear debris from a building that collapsed in an apparent accident at a demolition site, at 22nd and Market Streets, June 5, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
'I was parked on 21st just heading to Market Street, next thing you know it felt like an earthquake,' said Bernie Ditomo, to NBC Philadelphia.
'I said, 'What the hell is going on?' My truck is totaled. I am a little dusty and dirty, but I’m alright. I am one of the lucky ones.'
Another witness commented on the scene of devastation at the City Center location.
'There are firemen, police, construction guys digging out, because I believe people are down there,' said Corey Vey who works nearby. 'It's crazy right now.'
'I've never encountered anything like this before anytime in my life, and I don't want to see it again,' said Vey, who was driving down 22nd Street and witnessed the building fall down.
'I feel really lucky,' Vey said. 'That brick landed in my passenger seat. Lucky for the rainguard on my window that saved me from getting hit.'
Market Street is closed from 18th to 30th Street right now.
A firefighter cools down during a search for victims inside buildings that collapsed in an apparent accident at a demolition site in Philadelphia
Traffic is blocked off as rescue workers search for victims and clear debris from a building that collapsed in an apparent accident at a demolition site, at 22nd and Market Streets, June 5, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it has investigators on the way.
One witness told CNN affiliate KYW that a building, 'collapsed the wrong way and landed on a thrift shop,'
Steve Cramer, who has been working as a window washer across the street for several days, said the demolition crew left 30 feet of a dividing wall up with no braces and it compromised the integrity of the building
'We’ve been calling it for the past week — it’s going to fall, it’s going to fall,' his co-worker Dan Gillis said.
Carlton Williams of the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections said there were no existing violations on the building and the demolition company had proper permits for the work they were doing.
The city issued a demolition permit for the four-story structure on Feb. 1. Online records list the contractor as Plato Marinakos Jr., an architect. He told The Associated Press that Campbell Construction was handling the demolition.
A message was left at a listing for Campbell Construction in Philadelphia.
Operation: The 4-story building, which was connected to a Salvation Army Thrift Store on the southeast corner, collapsed at 10:45 Wednesday morning
Bernie DiTomo was driving past Salvation Army building in his white pickup truck, on his way to an appointment, when the collapse happened.
'The next thing you know, I heard a rumble, and a building and a sign fell on my truck,' he said.
He said he lay down in the seat of his cab. It was probably over in about 30 seconds, he said.
There was a lot of dirt and dust that he breathed in, but he was able to open the door and get out, unhurt. His truck remained nearby, partially covered in debris, as DiTomo watched recovery efforts from across the street.
High school student Jordan McLaughlan said he saw several people on the ground after the collapse being given oxygen by rescuers.
Rescue workers search for victims and clear debris from a building that collapsed today in Philadelphia
'It was hard to breathe, there was a lot of dust everywhere,' McLaughlan said.
The accident happened at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday on the western edge of downtown, between the city’s business district and its main train station.
Maj. John Cranford of The Salvation Army in Philadelphia said officials were coordinating with the police and fire department and sent their own disaster response team to the site to serve survivors and first responders.
'Our No. 1 concern is for the safety of our customers and the employees who were involved,” he said. “We ask for the public to pray for those involved.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336380/Horror-Philadelphia-person-killed-thirteen-injured-person-trapped-apartment-block-collapses-thrift-store.html#ixzz2VSgtLOmb
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