Rescuers try to reach cars trapped under New Jersey parking garage

By the CNN Wire Staff

July 17, 2010 7:43 a.m. EDT

The grille of a car is barely visible between the pancaked floors of a parking garage in Hackensack, New Jersey.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Crews are trying to reach a second car that may have two people inside
• It is unclear whether authorities knew the trapped person's identity or condition
• State, county and city workers are working cautiously to avoid secondary collapses

(CNN) -- Rescuers scrambled early Saturday to reach a person trapped in a car in the rubble of a collapsed New Jersey parking garage, nearly a day after the structure crumbled, authorities said.
Search-and-rescue crews were also trying to reach a second vehicle that may have one or two people inside, CNNRadio affiliate 1010 WINS-AM reported from the scene in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Surveillance cameras showed both cars were moving at the time of the collapse, reporter Steve Sandberg said.
Crews have been able to snake a camera through the rubble to the first car but the severity of that person's injuries and their identity was still unclear, he said.
That car is caught in rubble one floor below what would have been the top level of the garage, Lt. Stephen Lindner of the Hackensack Fire Department told reporters Friday.
Search teams have not been able to reach the second car with a camera, Sandberg said.
The garage collapsed shortly before 11 a.m. Friday. Lindner said three stories of the underground parking structure "pancaked," one on top of the next.
State, county, and city workers were working cautiously to avoid secondary collapses. They are digging by hand, at times allowing heavy equipment to remove larger pieces of debris, Sandberg said.
Engineers were assessing the structural integrity of the apartments near the parking structure. Those living in the apartment building adjacent to the garage were not allowed to stay there Friday night, Lindner said.
The apartment buildings house mostly senior citizens, Sandberg said, so there is added concern about the condition of those trapped.

Chris Baldo, who lives on the first floor of the building, said the collapse felt like an earthquake. He said he could see the entire collapse from his balcony, adding that his first-floor apartment "looked like it was the fourth floor" by the time the dust settled.