Police body camera video released Tuesday by the town of Surfside, Florida reveals the chaos in the minutes just after the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South.
In the footage, first responders are seen frantically searching for injured survivors. People can be heard calling out for help from police officers and other emergency personnel inside the cluttered debris that was left after 12 floors of the South Florida condominium collapsed in the early hours of the morning. Multiple streams of body camera footage released Monday by city officials show the perspectives of different first responders as they arrive at the chaotic, post-collapse scene.
One video shows a police officer slowly realizing the sheer magnitude of the destruction amid the dust and pitch-black rooms.
"There is a lot of dust I can barely see anything, I don't think the building collapsed but it looks like the roof and the drive-through collapsed and I'm looking for injuries," the officer tells a dispatcher, before returning to calling out for potential victims.
"Captain, the Champlain Towers, the building collapsed," the audibly stunned officer is overheard telling people on his radio.
"Is anybody there? Is anyone down here injured?" the officer shouts again, finally prompting a muffled, meek response from the rubble.
A woman responds from the dark as she is revealed by the officer's flashlight: "Yes, an old lady, please."
"Dude, the building just collapsed," the shocked officer can be heard telling another first responder in separate body camera footage. "All back that way is collapsed...Fire rescue is on the way. This is huge, I mean humongous."
Partially collapsed columns of concrete, twisted steel, and vehicles covered in a thick layer of debris are jammed inside the remaining floors as the first responders call out for trapped survivors. An eerie sprinkling of dust continues to shower over the emergency personnel on the scene inside and outside of the collapsed building.
In total, 98 people were killed in the June catastrophe. Some family members reportedly provided DNA samples in order to ensure their loved ones were correctly identified in the wake of the event.
Newsweek reached out to both the Town of Surfside as well as the local police for any additional context or details regarding the newly released body camera footage.
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