US: Amazon warehouse collapse in Illinois leaves six dead
Dec 12, 2021
Washington [US], December 12 : As many as six people have died at an Amazon warehouse collapse in the city of Edwardsville, Illinois, due to an ongoing wave of tornadoes in the US that have wreaked havoc in several states.
"It brings me great sorrow to confirm that at this time six individuals have lost their lives in the collapse, with an additional person receiving medical treatment. Search and recovery operations are ongoing," Illinois Governor Jay Robert Pritzker said during a briefing on Saturday.
Illinois Fire department informed that the walls on both sides of the Amazon warehouse "collapsed inward" and the roof of the building collapsed downward due to which most of the weight of the building landed centrally into the building.
"These walls are made out of 11-inch-thick concrete and they're about 40 feet tall, so a lot of weight on that came down," Edwardsville, Illinois Fire Chief James Whiteford said.
At least 45 people have since been rescued so far.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said that the string of deadly tornadoes that swept through several states this week was "likely one of the largest tornado outbreaks" in the history of US.
He also declared that an emergency exists in Kentucky after it was struck by several tornadoes.
