The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium yesterday reached its 14th day, with the death toll at three dozen, more than 100 people still unaccounted for, and authorities sounding more and more grim.
Crews on Tuesday dug through pulverized concrete where the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside once stood, filling buckets that were passed down a line to be emptied and then returned.
The up-close look at the search, compliments of video released by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, came as eight more deaths were announced — the most for a single day since the search began. It also came as rain and wind from Hurricane Elsa disrupted the effort, although the storm was on track to make landfall far across the state.
Photo: AFP
Searchers have found no new signs of survivors, and although authorities said their mission was still geared toward finding people alive, they sounded increasingly somber.
“Right now, we’re in search and rescue mode,” Miami-Dade Police Department Director Alfredo Ramirez told a news conference on Tuesday evening.
“Our primary goal right now is to bring closure to the families,” he added.
No one has been rescued from the site since the first hours after the building collapsed on June 24, when many of its residents were asleep.
Searchers were still looking for any open spaces within the mounds of rubble where additional survivors might be found, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said.
“Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive,” he said.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that the families of the missing were preparing for news of “tragic loss.”
US President Joe Biden, who visited the area last week, called on Tuesday to offer his continued support, she said.
“I think everybody will be ready when it’s time to move to the next phase,” she said.
Severe weather from Elsa hindered search efforts to a degree. Lightning forced rescuers to pause their work for two hours early on Tuesday, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah said.
Winds of 32kph, with stronger gusts, also hampered efforts to move heavy debris with cranes, officials said.
However, the storm’s worst winds and rain would bypass Surfside and Miami as Elsa grew along its path to an expected landfall somewhere between Tampa Bay and Florida’s Big Bend.
Crews have removed 112 tonnes of debris from the site, Cominsky said.
The debris was being stored in a warehouse as potential evidence in the investigation into why the building collapsed, officials said.
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