Wall Collapses at Houston Mall, Killing Three

A wall collapsed at a shopping mall Thursday morning, killing three people, injuring seven and sending dozens of elderly “mall walkers” scrambling for their lives. As many as six other people were feared missing under tons of concrete and steel rubble.

The wall was being torn down to make room for a Magic Johnson movie theater complex when it caved in.

“It just all of a sudden went crackling. I ran,” said Dorothy McCann, who was among those who exercise daily by walking laps inside the Northline Mall.

Rescuers using dogs searched through the debris for victims. Cranes were brought in during the afternoon to remove the rubble.

The bodies of three women were retrieved, more than 10 hours after firefighters and paramedics descended on the site.

“We’re pretty certain there may be other people under the debris,” Fire Chief Eddie Corral said. “We won’t really know until we get in there and pull it off. Some of it is rather large and heavy.” He said up to six people may be missing, and authorities continued searching late into the night for possible survivors.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Demolition crews were removing the last sections of an old department store when a wall shared by the store and the mall caved in at about the time the mall opened at 9 a.m. Authorities described the wall as about 20 feet high. The fallen section was said to be 150 to 200 feet long.

“I just heard a loud rumble,” said Mary Shields, 59, who was inside the mall. “I could see dust flying. I turned around and looked back. I saw people running out of the offices, saying somebody got hurt. The dust was so thick. You couldn’t see.”

It was not immediately known whether those killed were construction workers, mall employees or visitors.

Six of the injured were “mall walkers,” most of them in their 60s and 70s, including a man who ran through a window to flee the avalanche of debris and a couple who were pushed to the ground by the force of the collapse.

The most seriously injured was a 67-year-old woman with a broken ankle.

Mayor Bob Lanier said the search for victims was slowed by the need to make certain the rescue crews were in no danger. “They’ve got to make it safe,” he said. “When they do, we think they will find some more” bodies.