One person has been pronounced dead after a 12-story condominium in Surfside, Fla., in a predominately Jewish area near a large synagogue, partially collapsed at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. As many as 100 others are missing and may be trapped in the rubble left by the fall of the 136-unit oceanfront tower. About half of the building’s roughly 130 units were affected, the mayor told a news conference.

JUST IN: Video I’ve obtained of the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. pic.twitter.com/BGbRC7iSI9

— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) June 24, 2021

Rescue crews succeeded in extracting at least 35 survivors from the wreckage. 102 building residents had been accounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

#MDFR #TRT & #FLTF1 are working in the basement parking garage at Champlain Towers. Firefighters continue working on locating possible victims, while dealing with heavy damage and changing conditions in the parking garage. #SurfsideBuildingCollapse pic.twitter.com/qseknk0T8q

— Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (@MiamiDadeFire) June 24, 2021

Boy rescued from the rubble of a building collapse in Surfside, Florida — near Miami Beach.
Hundreds of first responders are on the scene right now.
Rescue operation continues at 8777 Collins Ave. pic.twitter.com/Hnq7Gd9QW4

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) June 24, 2021

Reports indicate that some 20 of the missing were members of the Jewish community, including a number of individuals with Israeli citizenship. The local Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which operates a large synagogue and community center in the area, published a list of 23 Hebrew names of missing, asking for prayers.

“There is a request that Tehillim (Psalms) Chapter 20 and Chapter 119 be said for those unaccounted for,” the Chabad organization posted on its website. “The following names have been received thus far.”

• Ariel Leib ben Ita
• Chaim ben Sarah
• Devorah bat Chaya
• Esther bat Linda
• Frankie ben Nancy
• Gavriela bat Sarah
• Ilan ben Kalman
• Ita bat Miriam
• Jay ben Nancy
• Leible ben Feiga Rivka
• Leib ben Shoshana
• Lein ben Ilana
• Malka bat Sarah Rochel
• Michoel ben Hans
• Moshe ben Toba
• Moshe ben Shoshana
• Nancy bat Sofia
• Nicole bat Andrea
• Ruth bat Sarah
• Sara bat Ida
• Tzvi Daniel ben Yehudit
• Yehuda Aryeh ben Freida Rivka
• Yisroel Tzvi Yosef ben Toba

The  Chabad also set up an emergency fund for the victims and families.

Among those rescued were building resident Barry Cohen and his wife.

Wearing a kipah and a Jewish Federation of Greater Miami T-shirt, he was interviewed on Thursday morning by CNN and other media. Cohen said he had been in a deep sleep when he heard “a crashing noise that kept going and going for 30 seconds.”

Opening the door to the hallway, “there was nothing there,” he told CNN. “It was just a pile of dust and rubble and paint falling from the ceilings. … When we were waiting for the firetruck to approach the building, the building was still shaking. It just seemed like it was very unsteady. And I just, you know, knowing how what it looked like outside my door, I thought that any minute, we could be that same pile of rubble.”

According to Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah of the Miami-Dade Fire rescue, 35 people were rescued from the building and two were pulled from the rubble of the Champlain Towers building, which was built in 1981. Ten people have been assessed and treated, and two were transported to the hospital. Jadallah said the northeast corridor of the building collapse affecting 55 units.

Among the first responders on the scene were 20 members of Hatzalah of South Florida, a volunteer medical service made up primarily of Orthodox Jews.

“Hatzalah is working closely with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and other agencies. Our role is to give medical attention to patients and deal with the families,” Joseph Dahan, a Hatzalah director who has been at the scene since shortly after the collapse happened, told JNS.

He said the Hatzalah dispatch center received a number of calls reporting the collapse of the building a few blocks away from The Shul in Bal Harbour, Fla., a large Chabad synagogue that draws worshippers and visitors from throughout Southeast Florida.

Gabriel Groisman, the mayor of Bal Harbour, which is adjacent to Surfside, tweeted: “Absolutely devastating scene in our neighboring city, Surfside. About half of Champlain South collapsed at around 2 am. Building was mostly occupied. I am replete with shock and sadness, am praying for the residents and their families, and am thankful for our first responders.”

He also noted that he used to live in that very building as a child.