A third man died Thursday after a parking garage collapsed on the Doral campus of Miami Dade College.

Samuel Perez was pulled from the rubble around 1 Thursday morning. Rescuers had to amputate his legs to get him out.

Perez, 53, died about three hours later in the hospital, according to Miami-Dade police.

Rescuers are continuing to scour the garage, on a recovery mission.

The death toll stands at three and could go higher as the search continues and a worker remains missing.

Police on Thursday identified the other two victims: Carlos Hurtado Demendoza, 48, and Jose Calderon, 60.

Wednesday was a day of drama and fear, with the under-construction garage collapsing flat around noon.

Hearing a rumble, a worried Rick Rutigliano, an electrical supervisor, ran to the other side of the parking garage to check it out.

By the time he reached the site, a major chunk of the $22.5 million, five-story building, under construction on the college’s West Campus in Doral, already had collapsed.

Students ran screaming. Construction workers, yelling “Oh, my God!” scrambled for safety.

“It fell to the ground like a house of cards,” said Victoria Buczynski, who was working Wednesday at Gurkha Cigars across the street from the construction site.

Miami-Dade police confirmed three workers died in the sudden collapse around noon, while one man was trapped for about 12 hours inside the cab of a truck among the rubble.

Shortly after midnight, rescue workers decided to amputate the trapped worker’s legs above the knee to pull him from the rubble. At around 1:15 a.m. he was rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile, rescue dogs detected some blood, possibly of the missing man, but the area was difficult for rescue workers to reach.

Lt. Arnold Piedrahita Jr., spokesman for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, had promised earlier in the day to focus efforts on getting the trapped man out.

“We’re not going to leave here until this gentleman gets out,” he said.

Scores of firefighters were still at the scene when the man’s legs were amputated.

As many as 10 victims went to area hospitals with injuries.

Electricians, welders, painters and other construction workers were inside the garage at the time of the collapse. The victims were construction workers for the garage contractor, Ajax Building Corp., or one of its subcontractors, college spokesman Juan Mendieta said.

Rutigliano said the structure appeared to have started to collapse as a large crane tried to set down an expansion beam on top of an existing one.

“Those guys had only seconds to get out, once the collapse began,” Rutigliano said.

Hundreds of rescuers rushed to what remained of the garage, first shoring up portions of the site before launching a full-scale search.

Cries for help

Almost immediately, they heard cries from under the debris and began the precarious and frantic job of unearthing trapped workers.

One worker’s legs were pinned under a large piece of concrete, and rescuers had to prepare him for the possibility of cutting off both legs to free him, Piedrahita said.

“Anytime you have to consider amputation, it’s very risky and harrowing,’’ Piedrahita said. “Imagine having to explain to them we have to amputate your extremities or you will die.’’

A surgical kit was readied. But a last-ditch effort to hoist him out was successful, Piedrahita said.