The demolition of the partially collapsed Surfside condo building.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty
A total of eight bodies were recovered in the rubble of the collapsed Surfside, Florida condo on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 36, according to officials.
Later that evening, the number had doubled as Levine Cava revealedduring a second press conferencethat four additional bodies had been found.
The eight bodies that were recovered on Tuesday now mark the highest number of victims to be found in one day since the building collapsed on June 24, according to Assistant Fire Chief Jadallah.
Levine Cava said of the 36 confirmed deaths, 29 have been identified. The mayor also noted that 191 people are accounted for, while 109 are believed to be missing.
“Our detectives are working as hard as they can to follow up and verify each and every report,” she said.
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said teams have been searching through open spaces where people might be found alive, but haven’t had much luck, according to theAssociated Press.
“We’re actively searching as aggressively as we can,” Cominsky said, per the AP. “Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive. The key things — void spaces, living spaces — we’re not seeing anything like that.”
Because no survivors have been found since the building collapsed, Levine Cava said families of those who are still missing have been preparing for news of “tragic loss,” the AP reported.
“I think everybody will be ready when it’s time to move to the next phase,” she said of eventually shifting efforts from a search and rescue to recovery. “Really, you will not see a difference. We will carefully search for bodies and belongings, and to catalog and respectfully deal with any remains that we find.”
Surfside condo collapse.CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty
News of the rising death toll comes two days after the Champlain Towers South Condo wasdemolished in a controlled explosionfollowing concerns about the structure falling asTropical Storm Elsaapproached the area.
Ahead of the demolition, Levine Cava stressed that knocking the remaining part of the building down may help search and rescue teams get to the previously unreachable areas of the rubble, theNew York Timesreported.
She also noted during anews conferencethat the instability of the structure made it unsafe for search and rescue efforts to go as planned.
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On Tuesday, Levine Cava said first responders' efforts were temporarily paused due to lightning and gusts of wind that were higher than 30MPH. They eventually picked back up before finding the four bodies a short time later.
“Active search and rescue continued throughout the night, and these teams continue through extremely adverse and challenging conditions,” Levine Cava said, according to the AP. “Through the rain and through the wind, they have continued searching.”
At this time, the identities of the eight victims found Tuesday have not yet been released.
Thetwo most recent victims to be identifiedwere 66-year-old Ingrid Ainsworth and 68-year-old Tzvi Ainsworth, the Miami-Dade Police Departmentconfirmed.
source: people.com
