Argentine Rescuers search for survivors in hotel collapse in popular beach resort town

Argentine rescue workers began efforts to search for survivors after a 10-story hotel collapsed on the country’s coastline.

The Dubrovnik hotel, located in the coastal town of Villa Gesell of the Buenos Aires province, suddenly collapsed Tuesday morning in a shocking scene that some described as a “horror movie.”

International reports indicate there may have been as many as 15 people inside the hotel at the time, which was sparsely occupied since it was under renovation, an issue that could raise legal issues.

According to authorities, local government agencies ordered the hotel cease and desist its renovations earlier in August because its contractors lacked the appropriate permits.

Journalists on the scene interviewed locals however, who said the work continued despite the municipal government orders to the contrary.

One local resident, Monica Mino, who lives near the hotel, told Reuters that the building “transformed into a cloud of dust and we couldn’t see anything. We heard like an earthquake ... this was terrible. It’s like a horror movie we’re living,” she told the international news wire service.

Patricia Bullrich, Argentina's national security minister wrote on the X social media platform that two search and rescue teams were dispatched to the disaster site, which is located 217 miles from the nation’s capital city.

She said that team of rescue specialists included structural engineers and a canine team that are trained to search for survivors in collapsed buildings, and that they are armed with equipment and resources needed to amplify local efforts.

Since the building’s collapse, rescuers have been doggedly working around the clock to safely extricate survivors who may be trapped under building debris. So far, authorities have rescued one woman and found the body of an octogenarian man who did not survive.

Others who are missing include construction workers who local authorities say were working “clandestinely, without complying with municipal regulations,” according to a statement released by authorities.  

Buenos Aires Province Security Minister Javier Alonso told local radio interviewers that four bricklayers working on the renovation also survived the collapse but have since been taken into custody by law enforcement officials for questioning.

The province security minister also said that local residents said some of the renovations may have been going on in the basement, raising questions about the building’s structural integrity.

Photographs taken from above the hotel showed massive structural damage with two rescue workers standing atop a collapsed roof and cement blocks from the hotel that also smashed through the roofs of nearby residences.

The Villa Gesell municipality is a popular beach resort spot that features many hotels within a walk’s distance from the ocean. It grew in population and expanded during the Second World War when it became the base for many European immigrants.

Many Europeans who arrived in the small Argentine coastal town built the municipality’s first hotels and restaurants. Spaniards ran shops and hotels while many Italians worked as construction workers.

Construction and development continued during the 1950s and 1960s, and the small South American beach town soon became a popular vacation destination for young Argentine nationals.

Local authorities tried to give the town a makeover in 2008 to attract older tourists by replacing annual rock concert festivals with family-oriented musical shows, but it suffered a setback in 2020 when an 18-year old law student, Fernando José Báez Sosa was murdered by eight out of towners from Buenos Aires.