Two dead in Florida parking garage collapse www.privateofficer.com

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Doral Fla Oct 11 2012Police say a second body has been found in the rubble of a collapsed parkinggarage at Miami-Dade Community College’s west campus in Doral, Fla.
Hours after the collapse at 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, oneperson remained trapped in the rubble. Six crew members were with the persongiving him oxygen and attending to his needs as others removed the heavydebris, said Capt. Louie Fernandez of Fire Rescue. Another person who had beentrapped was rescued."The person cannot be moved. We literally have to liftand remove tons of debris around him," he said.Some 300 rescuers rushed to the scene when a portion of thefive-story parking garage at 3800 N.W. 115th Ave. collapsed in what authorities calla "pancake-style collapse." Police said it appeared that only constructionworkers were at the site.
Four people were transported to Kendall Regional hospital inMiami, andthree others were treated on the scene with minor injuries.The garage was under construction and had yet to open, so nostudents were in danger, said college spokesman Juan Mendieta.One construction worker said he was on the top floor duringthe collapse and he started running. He described the floors as pancakesstacked on top of each other.
The debris was about 20 feet high and a crane and heavytruck were inside the work area when the garage collapsed. Street around thegarage were completely blocked off.Aerial footage showed firefighters escorting a man, whoappeared to be a construction worker, out of the garage, while rescuersapparently searched through the debris.Victoria Buczynski of Miamisaid she saw the collapse while she was working at Gurkha Cigars directlyacross the street from the construction site.
"It fell to the ground like a house of cards,"Buczynski said. "The construction workers started running out, screaming.It was loud. Our entire building shook."The construction of the 1,855-space garage was nearlycomplete. Ground was broken on the $22.5 million project in February, and itwas to be finished in December, according to the website of the contractor,Ajax Building Corp.William P. Byrne, Ajaxpresident  and chief executive officer,said in a statement said an internal review was being launched to determine thecause."While we do not yet know the cause of this tragiccollapse, we are committed to working actively and cooperatively with ourdesign and construction partners and local, state and federal authorities todetermine the exact cause of this accident," the statement said.The statement also said safety was a priority for thecompany.
Source:NBC