A building in Philadelphia collapsed on Wednesday, June 5, with the result of 13 people being injured and one person being trapped, according to the city fire commissioner. The four-story building in question was demolished but inadvertently rained bricks and debris on a nearby Salvation Army thrift store where the victims were hit.
The building housed a sandwich shop above which resided apartments. Next to the Salvation Army thrift shop stands an adult bookstore, and on the other side of the shop is an area where a theater once operated but was also recently demolished.
Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers declined to comment on the condition of the trapped person being rescued from the debris, the Associated Press reports.
According to the AP report on Wednesday, the other 13 victims of the building collapsed were taken to an area hospital where they are receiving treatment. Police dogs and rescuers numbering more than 100 worked to help clear the area and take care of the victims involved.
"I was standing there looking out my window, watching the men at work on the building, and the next thing I know I heard something go kaboom," a woman on the fifth floor of a nearby building, Veronica Haynes, said. "Then you saw the whole side of the wall fall down ... onto the other building."
Patrick Glynn was one of at least two workers on top of another nearby building who was skeptical about the way the collapsed building was being taken down over the course of the few days prior to the unfortunate incident.
"For weeks they've been standing on the edge, knocking bricks off," Glynn said. "You could just see it was ready to go at any time. I knew it was going to happen."
Other nearby laborers watched as the building was being taken down, seemingly incorrectly, wondering when the entire foundation would fall.
"We've been calling it for the past week - it's going to fall, it's going to fall," window washer Dan Gillis said.
Regardless of what naysayers may feel about the way the building was being demolished, Philly's Department of License and Inspections' own Carlton Williams said there was no violations that existed as regards the building. He added that the demolition company had all of the proper permits to operate as planned.
No matter what the reason or how it happened, the building that collapsed certainly left its mark on the area where it fell at 10:45 a.m. in between the main train station and business district of Philly.
"It was hard to breathe, there was a lot of dust everywhere," Jordan McLaughlin, a high school student who saw the rescuers come with oxygen masks for the victims, said.
"Our No. 1 concern is for the safety of our customers and the employees who were involved," Philadelphia Salvation Army Maj. John Cranford said. "We ask for the public to pray for those involved."
According to an update by CNN, at least one person has been reported dead due to the incident.
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