8 People Rescued in Partial Building Collapse in Iowa

A search and rescue effort was winding down in Iowa on Monday after the partial collapse of a six-story apartment building the day before, officials said.

The Davenport Police Department said its officers and firefighters responded on Sunday at about 5 p.m. to a report of the collapse at 324 Main Street in Davenport, a city along the Mississippi River in the eastern part of the state.

Overnight, more than a dozen people were escorted out of the building and eight were rescued, Chief Michael Carlsten, of the Davenport Fire Department, said at a news conference on Monday. One man was taken to the hospital, but Chief Carlsten did not know the man’s condition. There was no information about other injuries.

There were no known individuals still trapped and no reported deaths, but on Monday, teams used dogs trained in cadaver detection and rescue to search through the rubble, the chief said.

Mayor Mike Matson said on Monday that firefighters and emergency medical workers saved lives by rushing into the building, which has 84 residential and commercial units.

Firefighters discovered a large natural gas leak and a water leak at the building, but the cause of the collapse was not known, Chief Carlsten said.

Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services, said work was being done on the outside of the building at the time of the collapse, and there were reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week.

John Peragine contributed reporting from Davenport, Iowa.