Four people are dead and 159 are missing after first responders continued their search to recover people from the rubble following the partial collapse of a Miami condominium building on Thursday.
The total of unaccounted grew from 99 Thursday evening, and one death was added to the tally after Champlain Towers South, a 12-story structure that contains 136 units, was seen crumbling to the ground in video footage.
“As we work tirelessly and stand united — local, municipal, state, and now federal support — we are now going to work as hard as we can to continue our search and rescue effort,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava during a press conference Friday. “That is our priority.”
AT LEAST THREE DEAD AND 99 MISSING AFTER PARTIAL COLLAPSE OF MIAMI CONDO BUILDING
The mayor added that 120 people have been located and accounted for.
Around 130 firefighters are present at the scene, and “heavy machinery” has been brought to excavate what’s left of 55 apartment units. Responders sifted through the 30-feet-high rubble through the night despite rainfall.
A family reunification center was established for victims who were displaced following the incident, and Cava thanked the public for donations, including goods and money for survivors and victims of the deceased.
As of Thursday evening, 35 occupants, including the dead and wounded, were extracted from the building. Ten were injured, and 15 others were able to leave the collapse on their own.
Cava previously announced that she signed an emergency order, which has since received the go-ahead from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden, to give the Federal Emergency Management Administration access to the scene.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said earlier rescue efforts were hampered by darkness as the building “pancaked.”
“We had dogs out in the middle of the night, looking for survivors in the rubble, but it was just so dangerous and so dark that they made one pass, and they did not get any hits. … The problem is the building has literally pancaked,” he told reporters Thursday morning. “It has gone down. And I mean, there’s just feet in between stories where there were 10 feet.”
“That is, is heartbreaking because it doesn’t mean to me that we’re going to be successful — as successful as we would want to be to find people alive,” he added.
This is video of the moment the Surfside, Florida residential building partially collapsed this morning. pic.twitter.com/KnsHM1lnmD
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) June 24, 2021
DeSantis previously spoke to Floridians regarding the collapse.
“The TV doesn’t do it justice,” the Republican governor said, referring to the scale of the destruction around the building. He added that firefighters are still in “search and rescue” mode.
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Biden also commented on the matter.
“To the people of Florida — whatever help you want, the federal government can provide,” he said.
A cause for the collapse has yet to be revealed by authorities, and the building dates back to the 1980s.
