MIAMI – Two people are recovering Wednesday from a frightening fall from the second floor of their apartment building in Miami after a wooden staircase collapsed.
Tanya Benavides and Mauricio Serrato had just walked up the creaking steps to their second floor apartment when the wooden landing just outside their front door gave way, sending them crashing onto the concrete 10 feet below.
"They were screaming and screaming and we didn't know from where the screaming was coming from," said neighbor Eleonora Castro, who came outside to help the victims. "There were people there before me who were removing the debris that came down with them."
The incident happened at a home that had been converted into an apartment complex at 418 NE 29th St.
The victims were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Benavides was treated and released for a broken ankle. Serrato suffered broken ribs and a back injury and is still recovering at the hospital.
An inspector with City of Miami surveyed the weathered staircase on Wednesday afternoon. In some places the wood is rotted away. The inspector said residents should have called the city to complain if the landlord didn't address their concerns.
The owners of the building live in southwest Miami-Dade and could not be reached to explain why the rickety steps have not been replaced.
"The city is here to protect its citizens but if we don't know anything about it, we can't act," inspector Ray Benitez said.