Second collapse at N.J. parking garage

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Second collapse at N.J. parking garage
HACKENSACK, N.J., A second partial collapse occurred Saturday at a New Jersey underground parking garage where crumbling concrete buried cars the day before, officials said.

Witnesses reported hearing a crash and seeing smoke pouring from the Hackensack, N.J., garage about 2 p.m., The Record of Hackensack reported Saturday.

Authorities reported no injuries in either incident.

The second partial collapse of concrete and glass came just hours after crews finished the search for people they feared could have been trapped. Three levels of the garage "pancaked" onto each other Friday under the weight of a huge glass canopy that fell onto it from a high-rise condo in Hackensack, about 20 miles northwest of Manhattan.

Emergency workers had concluded Friday at least two people were trapped in cars based on a search using specialized cameras, rescue dogs and information from 911 calls.

Emergency crews found no one inside one of the flattened cars Saturday, Lt. Stephen Lindner, a Hackensack Fire Department spokesman, said at a news conference, and no one was reported missing. The second car has not been located, but rescue dogs did not pick up any human scent, Linder said.

"This operation went exactly the way it was supposed to. We are pretty happy there were no victims and none of our rescue personnel were hurt," he said. "A major tragedy was averted."

Linder said limited views from the photos indicate at least 10 vehicles remain buried in the rubble.

"All these vehicles were buried under tons of debris," he said. "You can't even be sure of what make or model the car is."
 
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