Man searches for missing friends in condo collapse

A Miami man says he is hoping to wake up from the painful reality he's currently living after his friends went missing when a beachfront condo building collapsed early Thursday.

Nicolas Fernandez says his friends – a couple and their young daughter, visiting the U.S. from Argentina – were staying at his family's apartment located on the wing of a 12-story building that collapsed, and he fears the worst.

"It's a family that has worked really hard their entire lives. They're members of the LGBTQ community. They were finally able to adopt their young daughter after years of much sacrifice and now…the three of them were there," Fernandez told reporters Thursday. "For them to go in this way – I hope that's not the case – but for them to go in that way is so unfair."

Holding onto hope, Fernandez says he and his mother have continued to call their friends in the event that someone might pick up the phone.

"There's always hope until we hear different," he said.

At least one person was killed, and dozens are feared trapped inside what's left of building: rubble and twisted metal.

Authorities did not say what may have caused the collapse. Work was being done on the building's roof, but Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he did not see how that could have been the cause.

About half of the building's roughly 130 units were affected, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference.

Rescuers pulled at least 35 people from the wreckage by mid-morning, and heavy equipment was being brought in to help stabilize the structure to give them more access, Chief Ray Jadallah of Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue said.

Fifty-one people who were thought to be in the building at the time of the collapse were unaccounted for by mid-morning — but there was a possibility that some weren't at home, said Sally Heyman, of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners.

The tower has a mix of seasonal and year-round residents, and while the building keeps a log of guests, it does not keep track of when owners are in residence, Burkett said.

Earlier, Burkett said two people were brought to the hospital, one of whom died. He added that 15 families walked out of the building on their own.

IMAGE: AP