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Nine rescued, 1 killed in building collapseLodge member: 'It's just amazing that any of us got out of there'
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- The president of the Clinton, Missouri, Elks Lodge was killed when an aging building collapsed around him as he prepared for a meeting Monday night. Nine other lodge members spent up to 10 hours trapped in the rubble before being rescued. The Elks had just sat down to dinner Monday night when disaster struck. "All of a sudden there was a loud noise, and I turned to see what it was, and the floor had disappeared," Don Eaton told CNN. "As I turned back around, before I had a chance to move, the floor underneath me caved in." Eaton was one of 10 lodge members trapped when the 100-year-old, three-story building collapsed, sending the top floor and the roof crashing into the second-floor dining room. "Myself and nine other members of the Elks Lodge dropped, with the floor, down halfway between the first floor and the second floor, " Eaton said. "It all happened so fast, but yet it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion." (Watch as survivor describes how the disaster unfolded -- 3:39) About 40 others in the room escaped through an adjacent door and emergency staircase. Rescuers worked through the night and had freed nine of the trapped men by early Tuesday. The tenth, club president Tony Komer, was found dead in the rubble. Komer, 32, had been on the third floor preparing for a speech at an initiation ceremony while the other members ate dinner. He was apparently the only person on the third floor. Clinton Police Lt. Sonny Lynch said early Tuesday that crews were trying to recover Komer's body but that part of the building would have to be taken down first, The Associated Press reported. One of Komer's relatives declined to comment to CNN on Tuesday morning, saying, "we just lost a family member." A lodge member described Komer as "community-minded" and said he had two young sons. Everyone else had been rescued from the building, Clinton Fire Department spokesman Sean Carter said. Although some were flown to nearby hospitals, he said, he did not believe their injuries were life-threatening. Video of the building showed the brick exterior was largely intact, but a pile of furniture and debris could be seen on the first floor, where a clothing store was located. "It happened like 7:15, 7:30 in the evening, and it was probably somewhere around 10:30 when the rescuers finally were able to shore up the building to where they could enter," Eaton said. "Then they dropped a flashlight to us, things like that, while they kind of checked out the area and then made more attempts to shore the walls that were about to cave in, so they could get in and do the work. "It was around 12:15, 12:30 in the morning when they finally started pulling us out," he said. "It's just amazing that any of us got out of there." The last survivor was carried out at about 5:30 a.m., the AP reported. Steve Cummings was among those eating on the second floor when the collapse happened. He said the first notice of something wrong came when parts of the ceiling started hitting him in the head. Then "you could see the middle of the building just go out from underneath everybody," he said. "Chairs, tables, people, just one floor down to the other." Cummings was able to escape. (Watch a survivor describe the collapse -- 5:56) The cause of the collapse was unknown, Lynch said. Structural engineers from the U.S. Department of Commerce were expected on the scene Wednesday to evaluate the structure of the collapsed building as well as those adjacent to it, police said. Tammy Woirhaye, a spokeswoman for Golden Valley Memorial Hospital in Clinton, about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City, said 11 people were brought to the medical facility. Some were treated and released, she said. Witness Diane Hannah estimated that more than 100 emergency personnel were on the scene, along with 30 ambulances. Clinton Mayor Gus Wetzel said the collapse has affected "every life in this community." "This is the worst of nightmares for myself and our community," he said. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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