2 dead after Amazon building partially collapses in Baltimore

By Chuck Johnston, CNN

(CNN) -- One person died in a partial building collapse at an Amazon Fulfillment Center in southeast Baltimore.

Fire department personnel responded to the Amazon Fullfillment Center around 10:25 p.m. on Friday and found a person unresponsive under heavy amounts of debris, according to Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Chief Roman Clark.

Clark said fire officials are searching for a possible second person in the wreckage, but it's unclear if someone was in the debris. He added that thermal imaging equipment was being used to determine if there's anyone else trapped inside.

At the time of the incident, severe weather came through southeast Baltimore, Clark said. But fire officials have still not determined a cause of the partial collapse.

Brandon McBride, an employee who was working in the building at the time, described to CNN affiliate WBAL the chaos that erupted when the building collapsed.

"I was standing inside the building and me and one of the facilities dudes were talking, and I went to the left side of the building and he went to the right, and all of a sudden, we just heard these loud noises. The power shut off. It was just crazy inside," McBride told the station. "It just sounded like bombs were dropping everywhere. The whole side (of the building) was just dropping."

Severe storms tore through much of Maryland on Friday evening.

"There was stuff falling everywhere, you could see the walls were caving in," McBride said. "Rain was pouring everywhere; all the packages were soaked. It's unreal."

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