Five people are unaccounted for and two of them are believed to still be inside a historic Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed, officials said Tuesday.
Nine people have been rescued since the catastrophe just before 5 p.m. local time Sunday at 324 Main Street, a 117-year-old, six-story complex in Davenport.
On Tuesday, city officials said in a news conference that they are planning to search the apartment complex again and are consulting with fire experts and structural engineers to determine the safest way to do so.
Davenport Police Chief Jeffery Bladel said that five people are unaccounted for and “we have a firm belief” that two of them are “still potentially in that building.”
The decision is an abrupt about-face, coming one day after Davenport officials said they’d demolish the structure on Tuesday morning after K-9 units found no survivors inside.
Hours after that Monday announcement, 52-year-old grandmother Lisa Brooks was rescued from her fourth-story apartment.
Fire Marshal James Morris said the rescue of Brooks was a “viable indication” that the city needed to look again at the structure for any more survivors.
The demolition plans are now “under evaluation” and are essentially on hold. Officials haven’t shared a concrete timeline on when another search or demolition will take place.
Davenport Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Ott said Tuesday morning: “The timing of the physical demolition of the property is still being evaluated. The building remains structurally insecure and in imminent danger of collapse.”
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