ORLANDO, Fla. — Only a handful of people connected to last month’s Surfside condo collapse are still classified as missing, Miami-Dade County officials said Thursday, and as the recovery effort begins to wind down, the investigation into how the building collapsed is picking up.
Miami-Dade police identified six more victims of last month’s Surfside condo collapse on Thursday, meaning that 92 of the 97 confirmed dead have been identified. County officials have accounted for at least 240 people connected to the building, with just a few still classified as missing, or “potentially unaccounted for.”
A county statement late Thursday said the task of identifying victims had become increasingly difficult, relying heavily on the medical examiner’s office and expert technical and scientific work. Because of this, officials Thursday said they would not share anymore updates on the death toll.
More than 26 million pounds (12 million kilograms) of debris and concrete have been removed as recovery work continues. A cause has not yet been pinpointed for the collapse of Champlain Towers South, although there were several previous warnings of major structural damage at the 40-year-old building.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, is beginning a full technical investigation into the cause of the June 24 collapse.
On Friday the team shared an update on the efforts to collect evidence from the debris pile.
The NIST team is using remote sensing to figure out where pieces of evidence may be located, using Lidar to send out rapid pulses of light to create a type of map. The scans are being done from balconies on buildings near the site. Once evidence is identified, the team marks and tags it. So far it’s collected more than 200 building elements, including columns, beams and pieces of concrete slab.
The team is also examining the building’s sister tower, Champlain Towers North, to get a better understanding of the building’s design and construction. That will help in building computer models for Champlain Towers South.
Experts from FEMA, Florida State University, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey are helping with this stage of the investigation.
While the evidence collection continues, NIST is assembling a National Construction Safety Team which will lead the overall investigation.
Meanwhile, a judge approved the sale of the oceanfront property on Wednesday, with proceeds intended to benefit victims of the deadly disaster. At a hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman ordered that the process begin to sell the site of Champlain Towers South, which could fetch $100 million to $110 million, according to court records.
The judge also approved returning $2.4 million in deposits that some Champlain condo owners had made toward an assessment to pay for $15 million in planned major repairs.
