Five people are unaccounted for after an apartment complex in Davenport, Iowa partially collapsed Sunday afternoon, with two potentially still inside the structure, officials said Tuesday during a press conference.

Authorities are deciding whether to conduct additional rescue searches of the building, considering that the structure is in “imminent danger of collapse,” Larry Sandhaas, a structural engineer hired by the city, said.

Officials planned to begin demolishing the building Monday until Lisa Brooks was recovered from the site that afternoon. Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said he doesn’t know how Brooks wasn’t found earlier. The 52-year-old was miraculously uninjured.

“We understand that this is an unthinkable situation, especially for the families that are involved and impacted by this event,” Matson said.

Authorities have used canines, drones, thermal imaging, infrared and trained rescuers to search for viable signs of human life, which officials said have been unsuccessful.

Approximately 53 people were living in the complex, out of a total 80 apartment units.

Due to the nature of how the six-story building collapsed, there are not very many places where survivors could be found, Sandhaas stated.

Even still, protestors continued demonstrating against demolition plans before rescue efforts could be continued to locate the two men unaccounted for, who relatives believe to be Ryan Hitchcock and Branden Colvin.

What critics feel like is a rush to demolish the building stands in stark contrast to other high-profile building collapses and subsequent rescue efforts. After the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., collapsed in 2021, officials spent 14 days looking for survivors.

Following another search Tuesday, rescue workers recovered several animals which were transported to the Scott County Humane Society.

“Crews continued to search for human life and none was detected,” a statement concluded.

As of Wednesday morning, nine people have been rescued from the building following the cave-in, while over a dozen were evacuated from the site immediately after the incident. It’s still not clear what caused the structure to partially topple down.

The roughly 100-year-old property underwent an inspection last week for work relating to brick and steel, which the structure is made of. Officials were not able to complete the inspection because the building collapsed, but contractors had started working on the repairs.

“The brick on the outside holds the steel frame inside up,” Sandhaas continued. “And at the same time, the steel of the building holds the brick up.

“So when you lose the brick, you lose the stability of the building.”

Richard E. Oswald, director of development and neighborhood services for the city of Davenport, said that the chief building official was satisfied with the status of the inspection when the structure nearly came down.

Oswald said residents had made complaints about the building prior to the incident, but the contents of those records have not yet been made public.

The property failed a roofing inspection in November and nine electrical inspections, the most recent taking place in February.

Amy Anderson, a relative of Hitchcock, spoke at Tuesday’s conference, saying that her family does not “want to see any more families lose their lives or anyone else be injured in trying to remove that rubble.”

Anderson added that Hitchcock “probably has not survived.”

“We know he’s with the Lord,” she said.