Eight people have been rescued after the partial collapse of a six-story apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, United States on Sunday.
No one was killed by the collapse, rescue officials confirmed on Monday.
The Fire Chief for Davenport, Michael Carsten, told journalists at a press conference that his teams were unaware of any missing people that remained in the wreckage.
Search and rescue teams worked with specialized dog units throughout Sunday night to locate survivors, after fire crews helped escort about 12 persons from the building on Sunday afternoon after first arriving on the scene.
Seven people were rescued on Sunday, with an eight person who had been pinned down by wreckage evacuated overnight from inside the collapse.
Back face of the tower block had shared off from the rest of the building complex but no reason has been offered for that.
Photos from the scene showed a gaping hole in the side of the building, and a plastic and metal fence erected around the perimeter as rescue efforts continued.
Mike Matson, the Mayor of Davenport, thanked emergency response workers for their efforts after this “tragedy” had struck the mixed use building, which has retailers and other businesses at street level and apartment homes on higher floors.
There were 84 separate units – the majority of them residential – according to Matson.
Gas had leaked from pipes inside the damaged structure, according to authorities, with the stability of the sections that remained standing still in question.
Water had dripped through several levels, Fire Chief Carsten said during the news conference, but the immediate cause of the building’s partial collapse was not yet understood.
Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services, said that there had been repair efforts underway on the outside of the apartment complex when it collapsed, after several bricks were reported to have fallen several days earlier.
