Rescuers search around the clock for survivors of Florida building
collapse
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[June 26, 2021]
By Francisco Alvarado
SURFSIDE, Fla. (Reuters) - Prospects for
recovering survivors from a Florida high-rise diminished with each
passing hour on Saturday, two full days after the 12-story condominium
mysteriously collapsed while many residents slept.
Even so, search-and-rescue teams worked around the clock through an
unstable mountain of debris looking for signs of life from any of the
159 people still unaccounted for, while smoldering fires filled the air
with smoke.
The death toll of four was certain to rise with one floor of the
high-rise stacked atop another like pancakes. Aided by dogs, cameras,
sonar and heavy equipment, rescuers looked for any spaces that may have
formed in the debris, leaving any possible survivors air to breathe.
"We have hope because that's what our search-and-rescue team tells us,
that they have hope," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told
a news conference on Friday.
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Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky told reporters that rescue
operations would continue throughout the night.
While local officials provided aid and comfort to the families, such as
hotel rooms and food, search-and-rescue specialists worked the disaster
site on a rotation, with a limited number allowed at any one time to
prevent further collapse, Levine Cava said.
Teams from Mexico and Israel arrived to help relieve the locally based
crews, many of whom have also traveled to disaster sites around the
world.
Atop the pile, some wielded hammers and picks looking for signs of life.
Heavy equipment scraped away the top layer.
Below ground, rescuers who entered through the parking garage risked
their own lives searching for survivors, occasionally being hit by
falling debris, officials said.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue chief Andy Alvarez recalled that his team once
pulled a girl out of earthquake debris in Haiti eight days into the
rescue effort.
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![](../images/062621pics/news_d27.jpg)
A man reacts as people hang up signs of missing residents from the
partial collapse in Surfside where the rescue personnel continue
their search for victims the day after in Surfside near Miami Beach,
Florida, U.S., June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona
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"You gotta have hope. We're doing everything we can
to bring your family member out alive," Alvarez told the loved ones
of the missing on CNN, pausing as he was overcome with emotion.
The disaster occurred early on Thursday morning, when a large
section of the 40-year-old building crumbled to the ground.
Video captured by a security camera showed an entire side of the
building suddenly folding in two sections, one after the other, at
about 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), throwing up clouds of dust.
The Champlain Towers South condominium is in Surfside , a barrier
island town across Biscayne Bay from Miami.
The building had more than 130 units, about 80 of which were
occupied, officials said. Roughly half appear to have collapsed.
The cause of the collapse remained a mystery.
Officials said the complex, built in 1981, was going through a
recertification process and repairs to the roof.
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by
William Mallard)
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