At least 10 people are dead and 151 are unaccounted for from the partial collapse of a residential condo building in Surfside, Florida, last week, with officials saying Monday that “intensity” in search efforts “will continue to increase.”
Search and rescue teams are still working to uncover more survivors who remain unaccounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference near the scene of Thursday’s traumatic partial building collapse.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said search and rescue effort at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse will grow in size in the coming days.
“The Israeli commander told us that the teams that are out there are working fabulously together,” Burkett said, noting a conversation with Israel’s National Rescue Unit. “There is a joint effort, there is camaraderie, and everyone has the same goal, which is to pull people out of there. He also added that the intensity and the numbers will continue to increase, which I was very interested to hear.”
Unaccounted residents who were in the building at the time are a mix of people from at least nine countries, including six Latin American countries, CNN reported.
Of the 10 dead, at least eight have been identified: Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; Luis Bermudez, 26; Anna Ortiz, 46; Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74; Antonio Lozano, 83; Gladys Lozano, 79; Manuel LaFont, 54; and Stacie Fang, 54.
During Monday’s press conference, Burkett said his focus was centered on crisis mitigation efforts. Still, he made a comment about “disturbing” reports regarding a 2018 Champlain Towers South board meeting where a chief building official reportedly told residents the tower was safe despite a warning from a consultant that flagged “major structural damage.”
“But be that as it may, we will get to the bottom of it,” Burkett said of the emerging report.
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Other structural engineers and experts have said the building may have been suffering from “concrete spalling,” a form of structural degradation that happens when saltwater seeps into porous concrete and causes steel rebar rods to rust and expand, causing concrete support beams to weaken.
