The official death toll in the Surfside, Fla, condominium collapse increased to 90 people on Sunday, officials said, as search efforts continued into their 18th day.
What You Need To Know
- The official death toll of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, increased to 90 on Sunday
- Thirty-one people are still potentially unaccounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Sunday
- Crews have removed more than 14 million pounds of concrete and other debris from the site
- Seventy-one of the victims have been identified, and their next of kin have been notified
Thirty-one people are still potentially unaccounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Sunday.
“Our hearts and minds are always with those who we’ve lost and the families who are grieving, and those who are still waiting,” Levine Cava said, adding that crews have removed more than 14 million pounds of concrete and other debris from the site.
Seventy-one of the victims have been identified, Levine Cava said, and their next of kin have been notified.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett stressed not only the speed of the recovery work but also the care that rescue workers are taking in peeling back layers of rubble in hopes of recovering not only those whose lives were lost but also possessions that might be meaningful to the loved ones they left behind.
“The work is so delicate that we’re even finding unbroken wine bottles,” said Burkett.
In recognition of rescuers from abroad, Levine Cava said she gave the keys to the county to the Israeli commander and colonel — her first two handed out as mayor. An Israeli search and rescue team arrived in South Florida shortly after the building collapsed on June 24. The team was heading home Sunday after an emotion sendoff in Surfside.
During a brief ceremony on Saturday evening, Levine Cava thanked the battalion for their “unrelenting dedication.” Members of the task forces that have been searching the site 24 hours a day since the collapse lined both sides of the street, shaking hands and bidding farewell to the Israeli team.
While authorities have concluded that there was “no chance of life” in the remaining rubble, the pressure remains for search crews to find victims so families can lay their loved ones to rest. Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said it was not possible to pinpoint the date that the search and recovery effort would end.
“On the rubble pile where we’re still in our search and recovery, it’s still a methodical process,” Cominsky said. “The crews there, they’re monitoring, they’re hand digging.
“As we’re delayering, it’s a slow process,” he added.
The Israeli team joined other task forces from around the United States to assist the teams from Miami and Miami-Dade County, working in 12-hour shifts. They have searched through South Florida’s intense summer heat, and in pouring rain, pausing only when lightning was spotted nearby. They also paused operations as officials made plans to implode the still-standing portion of the condo tower on July 4.
The Israeli team used blueprints of the building to create detailed 3D images of the disaster site to aid in the search. They also gathered information from families of the missing, many of who were Jewish, to build a room-by-room model laying out where people would have been sleeping during the pre-dawn collapse.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
