Two now believed to be dead in rubble of Davenport apartment collapse

DAVENPORT — Davenport city officials gave another update Tuesday on the partial collapse of an apartment building Sunday. Police Chief Mike Blaydel says they now believe two people may’ve died.

“We have five that are unaccounted for and two that we have a firm belief that are potentially still in that building,” he says. Blaydel says they have been checking and double-checking sources of information to try and get a list of tenants.

Davenport Fire Marshal James Morris, says it continues to remain an unsafe site. “As has been noted since day one that we’ve responded there that building is unstable and it continues to worsen as time progresses,” Morris says. He says they are hoping to figure out a way to safely conduct another search. “It’s the opinion of the structural engineer that any additional search operations in the area of that pile debris should be avoided due to potential collapse. We are currently evaluating the risk assessment of where we can go back into that building to do this other search,” Morris says.

A woman was rescued Monday night from the building. Davenport Mayor Mike Matson says they do not know how the woman was missed in multiple searches of the building or how she got there. Matson also addressed concerns raised by protestors when the city said it was preparing to demolish the building with the possibility of people remaining in the rubble. He says they want to do what they can while ensuring no one else is injured or killed.

“We have talked in depth about the being the respectful dignity peace, knowing that this could be a place of rest, for some of the unaccounted.” Matson says. “We are investigating and evaluating as best as we can with a lot of assistance from places other than here.” A relative of one of the men who is believe to be in the rubble of the building asked people not to protest, as she says the city has a plan.