Demolition underway at Pulse nightclub, site of one of the deadliest U.S. mass shootings

Demolition crews began tearing down the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, as a survivor of the 2016 mass shooting stood nearby and streamed the moment in real time.

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Orlando Torres, who survived the attack that killed 49 people, narrated the scene as excavators clawed into the building’s walls, sending debris cascading inward. As the structure came apart, Torres revisited the night he spent trapped inside a bathroom with other patrons, his account moving between observation and memory.

“We're hoping this is for the better, finally. Long overdue. Looking forward to moving on and having peace and tranquility where we can pray inside,” Torres said during the morning livestream around 9:15 a.m. Eastern.

Related: Pulse nightclub demolition set for March to make way for memorial

Related: Orlando tears down ‘horrific’ Pulse sign. Survivor Brandon Wolf says it once meant safety

He described the fear that the gunman would execute those hiding on the floor, the concussive blasts that echoed through the building, and the moment law enforcement breached the wall. Water poured over him as pipes ruptured. “I thought I was going to drown. I couldn’t breathe,” he said, recalling how he struggled for air while pinned in place.

Torres said he remained immobilized after hours on his side, unable to respond when officers urged him to move. “Push yourself up,” they told him, he recalled. “I can’t.” Officers ultimately pulled him through a hole in the wall to safety.

For nearly a decade, the Pulse building has stood as both crime scene and shrine, a physical site where grief settled into ritual after what was then the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Visitors left flowers, photographs, and handwritten notes along its perimeter, transforming the nightclub into a place of pilgrimage even as official plans for a permanent memorial faltered.

Related: New photo from Pulse shooting shows exit blocked by refrigerator, which may have cost lives

Related: Brandon Wolf won’t return to Orlando’s Pulse nightclub where he survived the murder of friends who never left

The demolition follows a symbolic step taken last week, when the club’s iconic sign was removed. Pulse survivor and advocate Brandon Wolf, who serves as national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, described the sign as something that once represented safety and pride for him, a “physical monument to community,” before it became inseparable from the trauma of the attack.

This is a developing story.