The tally of the missing in last week’s condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla., was reduced on Friday, from 145 to 128, after duplicate names were eliminated and some people reported missing turned up safe, officials said.
Authorities also announced the recovery of two more bodies, including the seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter. That raised the confirmed death toll in the June 24 catastrophe to 20 people.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the number of missing declined following an audit. She explained that in some cases, one person may have been moved to the “accounted for” list when, in fact, an entire family had been found to be safe.
Detectives have worked around the clock to vet the list, recontacting relatives and others. In some cases, English and Hebrew names have been offered for the same missing relative, officials have said.
The seven-year-old who died in the collapse was “a member of our fire family,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said.
The discovery of the remains of the daughter of a Miami firefighter was especially hard on rescuers, Levine Cava said.
“It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders. These men and women are paying an enormous human toll each and every day, and I ask that all of you please keep them in your thoughts and prayers,” she said at a news conference.
Plans to tear down remaining structure
Friday’s announcements came a day after officials said they were working on plans to tear down what’s left of the building after concerns about the structure’s instability prompted a 15-hour halt to the search for survivors.
Scott Nacheman, a structures specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the demolition would trigger a slowdown in the rescue operation, but it would create a safer working environment that could allow more personnel on the site and accelerate the pace of the work. He said it would likely be weeks before officials schedule the demolition.
No one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse of the 12-storey Champlain Towers South condominium, in the shore town near Miami Beach.
U.S. President Joe Biden visited the anguished family members of the victims of a deadly condo collapse outside Miami, Fla. Eighteen people have been confirmed dead and 145 are still missing. 2:33
On Friday morning, about a dozen workers could be seen digging through the pile that now reaches about six metres, more than three metres less than it was a week ago. Cranes were again lifting heavy objects from the pile, and workers would then climb into the pile and begin removing smaller rubble by hand.
The rescue work was halted early Thursday after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.
Work resumed shortly before 5 p.m. after the site was evaluated by structural engineers.
The work stoppage had threatened to dim hopes of finding anyone alive in the debris a week after the tower came down.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the halt was worrisome, since “minutes and hours matter, lives are at stake.”
‘This is life and death’
The temporary halt to rescue operations unfolded on the same day that U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, visited the devastated community.
“This is life and death,” Biden said during a briefing. “We can do it. Just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done makes a difference.”
Peter Milian is a cousin of Marcus Guara, who died along with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, and their two children, 10-year-old Lucia Guara and four-year-old Emma Guara. Milian said he understood why the rescue work had to be temporarily halted.
“I mean, they’ve done everything they can. But we trust the people that are on the ground. And obviously, they’ve got to do what’s best for their people, right? Because it is a dangerous situation,” he said.
