Dramatic footage shows workers being freed from collapsed garage

Dramatic footage filmed in the depths of a collapsed Tel Aviv garage Monday shows rescuers cutting through tangled metal and crushed concrete to reach workers trapped beneath the rubble.

Five people had been pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building site by Monday evening, with rescuers continuing searches for five more trapped underground.

At least two people were killed and another 24 injured in the Monday morning cave-in, the worst industrial accidents in Israel in recent years. One fatality was identified as a 28-year-old Ukrainian national.

The IDF said 300 people were involved in the rescue effort to locate workers trapped in the wreckage of the four-story underground parking garage.

“Firefighters, alongside other rescue workers from the Home Front Command, are in a race against time to locate the five missing trapped people as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson for the fire department said.

Footage disseminated by emergency services shows one injured man being pulled from the rubble. Medical personnel check for his pulse and prepare to evacuate him to a hospital.

The video also shows rescuers struggling to free a man trapped above them in the collapsed building. His arm can be seen as he reaches out to the team trying to break through the concrete to bring him out.

In another video, a rescue worker calls out to try to locate any other survivors.

He asks everyone to remain quiet as he listens for a response.

Another worker sends a WhatsApp message to try to make contact with the missing men buried under the rubble.

Rescue workers said they were using cell phone signals to locate those trapped.

They also reported hearing voices, but hope faded as contact was lost Monday night.

“It is a very tough arena for rescue, it is really life threatening,” said Eli Bin, the head of the MDA rescue service. “We are very worried that we won’t manage to reach those same people whose voices we can definitely hear.”

Col. Golan Vach, a commander in the IDF search and rescue unit, described the scene as “very complicated” and said rescue efforts could continue for several days.

The moment of the collapse was captured on a security camera, showing the ground suddenly give way and a cloud of dust rising up.

Investigators have placed a gag order on details of a probe into what caused the collapse, but workers described shaking in the hours before the collapse.

A site manager told Army Radio he felt rumblings every time a floor cleaner went by, which he reported to the project manager.

A construction worker from the site said he was underground in the garage when he began to feel vibrations.

“All of a sudden everything collapsed,” the man, Micha Lavine, identified by Channel 10 TV as a project manager at the site. “It was scary. You feel like everything is going to collapse, and you are going with it.” Speaking to reporters at a hospital, he said he was blown backward by a blast and lightly injured.

Another worker, identified only as Mohammed, told the Ynet news site that he felt shaking when a tractor went by and reported it as well.

The victims were taken to several nearby hospitals, including Ichilov, Beilinson, Tel Hashomer and Asuta, the latter of which is located next door to the scene.

The hospitals opened an emergency hotline (dial 1255133 from any Israeli phone line) for families seeking to check if their relatives are among the injured.