SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse vowed Thursday to keep up their search for victims unt…
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse vowed Thursday to keep up their search for victims until they cleared all the debris at the site. A fire official told family members at a meeting that crews “will not stop working until they’ve gotten to the bottom of the pile and recovered every single of the families’ missing loved ones,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said at an evening news conference. He did not identify the official, but said the families were grateful. “This is exactly the message the families wanted to hear,” he said. The death toll rose to 64, with another 76 people unaccounted for, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed. Levine Cava said teams paused briefly atop the pile to mark the two-week anniversary of the disaster, but there was no let-up in the pace or number of rescuers at the site during the recovery phase. “The work continues with all speed and urgency,” she said earlier Thursday. “We are working around the clock to recover victims and to bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can.” The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside.
