Miami building collapse: Woman pulled her daughter to safety after breaking pelvis in four-storey fall

The woman and her daughter escaped, but father of the family is still missing

Angela Gonzalez somehow managed to save her teenage daughter, Devon, after they both fell four stories in the Surfside building collapse (CBS Miami)

A mother who fell four floors and broke her pelvis during the Surfside condo collapse in Miami managed to pull herself and her daughter to safety despite the injury.

CBS 4 Miami reported that Angela Gonzalez and her 16-year-old daughter, Devon, were inside the building when it collapsed. The duo fell from the ninth floor to the fifth floor as the building crumbled, leaving Ms Gonzalez with a broken pelvis.

Despite her injury, Ms Gonzalez summoned the will to pull herself and her daughter out of the rubble.

After the feat, both she and her daughter were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Edgar Gonzalez, Ms Gonzalez's husband and Devon's father, is among the nearly 160 individuals still unaccounted for.

So far, at least four people have been confirmed dead following the building collapse.

The 12-storey condo collapsed around 1:30am on Thursday. The reason for the collapse is not yet known, and may not be known for weeks or months, pending an investigation.

A resident in the building who escaped the collapse told the Associated Press that he heard a crack that sounded like lightning. The resident then opened his door to see his hallway filled with rubble.

The resident was eventually rescued by firefighters using a cherrypicker.

Rescue workers have been tearing through the unstable rubble to find survivors since the collapse.

On Thursday, rescue crews brought heavy equipment and dogs to the site to assist as they race against time to find those still buried.

Rescue workers have reported hearing sounds from the rubble, though there is no guarantee that their origins are human. Twisting metal and sliding rubble are likely to be causing at least some of the noise.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden authorised FEMA to assist in the disaster response effort, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency.

“The TV doesn’t do it justice,” Mr DeSantis said. “It is really, really traumatic to see the collapse of a massive structure like that.”

Senator Marco Rubio said his office was arranging emergency visas for individuals from more than a dozen countries who had family members in the condo.

“Many are starting to or have already arrived in South Florida,” the senator said in a tweet.