PHILADELPHIA — At least one person is dead and two others are believed to be missing after a parking garage partially collapsed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ABC affiliate Philadelphia. And in I’ve learned.
Just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, calls came in about the building collapsing, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson said. Search and rescue operations began immediately and are still continuing.
A collapse was reported at a parking garage in South Philadelphia
The sources confirmed that one of the people who was recovered from under the rubble died in the area hospital. Two others are still missing.
A large pile of debris was seen on one side of the garage. First responders focused their efforts on the lower levels of the structure, which officials believe contained either an elevator shaft or stairwell.
One witness said he was driving and reported hearing a rattling sound. Others said at first they thought it was an earthquake.
“I was in the kitchen, and we heard an explosion, and we thought it was a storm or a bomb, something we didn’t know what it was,” Andrew Martinez of Grays Ferry said. “My wife was upstairs, and she heard people screaming and running away. She saw a huge cloud of smoke. The house was shaking.”
Thompson said the structure is vulnerable and will need to be stabilized before search and rescue operations can safely continue. Efforts are expected to continue until the evening.
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The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined.
Officials closed the surrounding area to allow additional crews to bring in heavy equipment to begin removing debris.
The seven-story parking garage was under construction for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It was built to expand CHOP employee parking.
The project has been the subject of controversy, including protests earlier this year. The group that protested was concerned about increased congestion and potential environmental health impacts.
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