LOS ANGELES — A two-story, 77-year-old apartment building collapsed Friday, killing a man trapped between floors. Thirty-six people were injured..
Police were withholding the identity of the dead man.
Investigators suspected the aging 24-unit building suffered a structural failure, although some witnesses reported hearing an explosion, Fire Chief William Bamattre said.
Cracks in the foundation had been repaired and approved by the city last year, said Bob Steinbach, spokesman for the Building and Safety Department.
The apartment house next door was evacuated as a precaution. The total number of tenants was not immediately know, although dozens of residents, many of them immigrants, were left homeless.
Forty-four adults and 33 children from both buildings were given shelter at a nearby church.
Firefighters were told three people might be trapped, but all residents were later accounted for. A search turned up only a small dog unharmed.
Twenty-five people were treated for injuries at the scene, all minor, said fire Capt. Steve Ruda. Eleven people were taken to hospitals.
The total number of tenants was not immediately know, although dozens of residents, many of them immigrants, were left homeless.
"I heard this rumbling that crescendoed into an explosion. Then I heard women screaming," said Tom Panages, 48, who lives nearby.
He said he went outside and saw the damage. "Tenants were streaming out of the bottom windows," he said.
Passersby helped people get out before firefighters arrived, he said.
The stucco building faces Echo Park Lake in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, just northwest of downtown and west of Dodger Stadium.
"There's all kinds of tenants in there day and night," Panages said. "There's dogs barking and music playing. It's a real vibrant, lively place. For this to happen to these people is as sad as it gets."
Damage was heaviest at the front of the building, where second-story units collapsed onto the ground floor.
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