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Miami building collapse leaves 99 people unaccounted for

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Miami building collapse leaves 99 people unaccounted for

At least one person has died and dozens are missing after the collapse of a 12-storey residential building north of Miami, Florida, officials say.

The number of people who have been located now stands at 102, while 99 are still unaccounted for, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine-Cava.

It is unclear how many people were in the building at the time.

The cause of the collapse – affecting about half of the 130 units in the complex – remains unclear. The block in the town of Surfside was built in 1980.

A number of Latin American migrants have been reported missing by their consulates.

Relatives of the first lady of Paraguay are also among the missing, Paraguayan officials said.

Rescuers were unable to contact the sister and brother-in-law of first lady Silvana López Moreira, along with their three children and a domestic worker.

Rescuers pulled 35 people from the wreckage, officials said. Ten were assessed and treated, of whom two were sent to hospital.

Search and rescue teams are working from a parking garage underneath the wreckage as they explore the rubble for survivors.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).