2 Dead, 1 Trapped in Fla. Parking Garage Collapse

MIAMI (AP) - Authorities say a second person has died in the collapse of a parking garage under construction at a community college in Florida.

Roy Rutland of the Miami-Dade Police Department says the second body was discovered Wednesday. A construction worker is also still trapped in the rubble.

That worker is stuck inside a vehicle. Officials say a paramedic and a doctor are with him and it may take hours - or possibly days - to rescue him.

At least 10 other workers were hurt when the roof of the five-story concrete garage fell on the campus of Miami-Dade College.

Officials are working to determine whether anyone else is missing.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Louie Fernandez said Wednesday that getting the construction worker out is going to be a long, tedious effort because there is tons of debris around the person.

The five-story parking garage was nearly complete when part of it crumbled to the ground.

The two trapped workers used cellphones to talk to rescue teams, Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Griselle Marino said. Dogs, firefighters and other people in hard hats walked over piles of concrete, plywood and metal rubble to look for other possible victims.

Victoria Buczynski of Miami said she saw the collapse while she was working at Gurkha Cigars across the street from the construction site at the Miami-Dade College.

"It fell to the ground like a house of cards," Buczynski said. "The construction workers started running out, screaming. It was loud. Our entire building shook."

The large section of the nearly completed five-story garage fell shortly before 11:40 a.m. No students were in the area at the time, authorities said.

Firefighters, police officers and workers in hard hats flooded the construction site. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

"We just know that the roof collapsed," Marino said.

Four workers were taken to the hospital, including one in serious condition, Marino said. Three others were treated by paramedics at the scene.

The construction site looked like a typical one. A large crane stood beside the pile of rubble. Pickup trucks, a trash bin and tractor-trailer were nearby, as were ladders, a cooler and piles of wood and metal.

The construction of the 1,855-space garage appeared to be nearly complete. Ground was broken on the $22.5 million project in February, and it was to be completed in December, according to the website of the contractor, Ajax Building Corp.

The first floor was to have classroom and office space. The structure is nestled closely near to other buildings at the college, which serves about 8,000 students and is one of several campuses in the Miami-Dade College system. This campus opened in 2006.

An Ajax spokeswoman declined comment and said a company safety crew was en route to the scene.

The identity of the worker who died was not immediately released.