A desperate search for survivors of the Florida condo collapse entered a second day Friday as the number of those dead and unaccounted for continued to rise.
Raide Jadallah, the assistant chief of operations for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told reporters during a morning news conference that the death toll had increased from one to four overnight after authorities pulled three bodies from the rubble of the 12-story building in Surfside, a town in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
June 25, 202100:35
There were 120 people accounted for from the building and 159 people unaccounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Friday. Previously, there were 102 people accounted for from the building and 99 people unaccounted for, she said.
“We will continue search-and-rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive,” she said. “That is exactly why we’re continuing.”
June 25, 202101:01
The slow and methodical search for survivors involves rescue teams searching from below — using a parking garage — as well as from the top of the destruction, according to Levine Cava.
“We’re using our dogs and our sonar and our cameras — everything possible — to seek places where they may be people still to be found,” the mayor said.
Authorities, however, had no insight Friday on what caused 55 of the 136 units in the building’s northeast corridor to collapse about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
Scientists have long noted the risk of building on the shifting sands of a barrier island like Miami Beach, especially with rising sea levels. While it may not be the reason for the collapse, scientists said the conditions continue to present an engineering challenge in the region.
June 25, 202102:49
At the time of the collapse, “quite a few” people were in the building, while some were able to escape through the front of the structure as the back fell, officials said.
Relatives of the first lady of Paraguay were among the dozens unaccounted for in the collapse. In interviews Thursday, Euclides Acevedo, Paraguay’s foreign minister, identified the missing family members as Sophia López Moreira, the sister of first lady Silvana López Moreira, and her husband, Luis Pettengill — both members of President Mario Abdo Benítez’s family. Their three children and Lady Luna Villalba, a worker accompanying the family, were also missing, Acevedo said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency after visiting the site on Thursday.
“The TV doesn’t do it justice,” he said. “It is really, really dramatic to see the collapse of a major structure like that.”
Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer said search-and-rescue operations could “play out for days.”
“I mean, could be weeks until we really know who is under the rubble, who survived, who didn’t survive,” Salzhauer said. “There’s a lot of people unaccounted for, lot of families very concerned.”
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center said it received three patients, including two listed in critical condition. The status of those patients was unknown Friday monrning.
Video from the scene showed a large section of the multistory building collapse into a pile of rubble.
Emergency crews were going from balcony to balcony with a fire ladder on the side of the building that was left standing, looking for people who might be trapped.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was on the scene near 88th Street and Collins Avenue with more than 80 fire rescue units involved, the agency said. That included a technical rescue team that is trained in the removal of victims trapped in complex or confined spaces, fire officials said.
President Joe Biden offered federal assistance and support after speaking with Levine Cava on Thursday.
“We have gotten in touch with FEMA and they are ready to go,” Biden said. “To the people of Florida, whatever help you want the federal government to provide, we are waiting. Just ask us and we will be there.”
Records showed the condo complex, Champlain Towers South, was built in 1981. The building is across from a beach in the oceanfront community of about 6,000 people.
Salzhauer said the building was undergoing inspection for its 40-year recertification, which takes about a year. A nearby “sister-building,” Champlain Towers North, was built around the same time, according to the commissioner.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
