Rescuers search for people trapped in collapsed hotel in Argentina

More than a hundred rescuers worked against the clock this Wednesday with the help of sniffer dogs and a crane to locate about seven people who were trapped in the rubble of a hotel under renovation that collapsed in the Argentine town of Villa Gesell.

So far, a man over 80 years old has died while an elderly woman was rescued alive and is hospitalized due to the collapse that occurred the day before of a large part of the 10-story structure of the Dubrovnik Hotel, which destroyed part of a building when it fell. lower height surrounding area.

Rescue efforts with specialized teams continued throughout the night of Tuesday and early Wednesday morning and included attempts to communicate with the missing.

Authorities from the province of Buenos Aires traveled to Villa Gesell, a resort that is filled with vacationers in the summer season of January and February and is located about 350 kilometers southeast of Buenos Aires, to monitor the tasks.

The only thing left standing of the hotel is the façade, while the rest of the structure is completely destroyed.

Different Argentine security forces and specialized rescue teams are working together to find the survivors.

The Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, Javier Alonso, explained to journalists this Wednesday that three dogs “point out places where technical teams work with sonars and probes; Based on that, the engineer defines which concrete elements must be lifted, because the most important thing is that what is already collapsed does not collapse.”

The official indicated that it was key to have a crane “which what it does is lift debris that weighs about 1,500 kilos.”

Alonso said that these debris are sent to a place where they are preserved so that they may eventually be subjected to an expert opinion if necessary.

According to authorities, the hotel imploded and the structures fell on themselves, which would indicate that the foundations suffered problems.

The people who were inside the building at the time of the collapse were workers doing renovations.

Some of them, who were housed in an area of ​​the building that did not collapse, fled when the incident occurred and have been detained preventively by order of the court.

A prosecutor is investigating the causes of the collapse while the municipality of Villa Gesell has indicated in a statement that, although there are no details of the reason for the event, “it can be stated that in the collapsed part the structure had been modified illegally and irregularly. ”.

The municipality of Villa Gesell indicated that in August it detected that works were being carried out at the hotel without the corresponding authorization and that they were stopped by order of the authorities.

After this stoppage, the owners requested authorization for “changes to carpentry, floor coverings, interior painting, changing bathroom coverings and removing countertops,” which were authorized, “with the exception that the change of carpentry was only authorized on the ground floor, not on the upper floor,” the statement stated.

According to the municipality, the owners then added a technical report on some preparatory tasks for an elevator that they intended to install in the reception area, among other works, and the local authorities notified them on October 15 “of the need to formally present the documentation.” corresponding to that work.”

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