Witnesses say he seemed to be in his mid-20 s and was a worker at the site.
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“All of a sudden everything collapsed”, the man, identified only as Micha, told Channel 10 TV.
“Several stories of the building collapsed”.
“We heard a huge boom behind us and a very strong blast threw us onto a wall opposite”, he added.
According to witnesses, a construction crane on a building site fell onto the building, causing its first storey to cave in.
“At the moment, Danya Cebus and Africa Israel Investments are devoting all of their efforts to providing a quick response at the scene and are focusing on treating the casualties in this severe incident”.
Images of the scene showed an underground auto park that had caved in and dozens of rescue workers and security forces at the site in Tel Aviv’s Ramat Hahayal neighbourhood. It is reported to be a four-story building with people trapped inside.
The remaining structure is not stable as chunks of concrete are falling, making it impossible for rescue workers to reach the area until the situation is further evaluated.
Several of the nine people believed trapped in the structure had made contact with rescuers, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. Tel Aviv though is not ready to hold talks while Ramallah sets forth any preliminary terms.
Ramat Hahayal is home to a number of high-tech offices in Israel’s booming technology industry, based around the city of more than 400,000 people.
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A foreman at the construction site reported 15 workers were still unaccounted for and may be buried under the rubble that.
