The number of residents unaccounted stands at 147.
By TERRY SPENCER SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — Search crews going through the ruins of a Florida condo tower pulled six more bodies from the rubble Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 18. It was the highest one-day toll since the building collapsed almost a week ago into a heap of broken concrete. The number of residents unaccounted stands at 145. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava made the announcement at an evening news conference. She said two of the dead were children. Earlier in the day, crews searching for survivors in the ruins of a collapsed Florida condo tower built a ramp that should allow the use of heavier equipment, potentially accelerating the removal of concrete that “could lead to incredibly good news events,” the state fire marshal said Wednesday. Since the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South last week in Surfside, rescuers have been working to peel back layers of concrete on the pancaked building without disturbing the unstable pile of debris. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members of those missing Wednesday that a ramp built onto the pile overnight allowed rescuers to use a crane on sections that were not previously accessible. He said that improves the chances of finding new pockets of space in the urgent search for survivors. “We hope to start seeing some significant improvement in regards to the possibility of (finding) any voids that we cannot see,” Jadallah said. In an interview with Miami television station WSVN, State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis described the ramp as “a Herculean effort” that would allow crews “to leverage massive equipment to remove mass pieces of concrete,” which could lead to good results. Patronis told The Associated Press that the ramp will allow heavy equipment to get closer to areas where debris needs to be cleared. The new equipment includes a so-called nibbler, a massive machine that has a scissors-like tool at the end of a long arm to cut through concrete and rebar.
