51 people unaccounted for after Florida condo collapse

Witnesses of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, which partially collapsed Thursday, said as they were trying to evacuate the adjacent building, “everybody was screaming and panicking.“ 

Aaron Miles, his girlfriend, and members of their family were staying next door at the Bluegreen resort which has been evacuated. He said, “once you got down to the lobby… it was filled with nothing but dust and debris.” 

Abigail Crosby said they quickly grabbed the five children who were staying with them and evacuated, “whatever I had, I took.” 

We “got out as fast as we could,” Miles said. The group went downstairs to the parking garage basement where a valet let them out. 

Miles said that immediately following the collapse people were running around screaming.

“It was awful. Kids, grownups screaming. Women and children crying. It was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” Miles said.

The family, who is on vacation from Virginia, said everything seemed normal yesterday. 

Miles said, “yesterday, the building seemed normal and nothing seemed off, and then like I said we woke up and the building was just gone.”

source: cnn.com