At least four people are dead and 159 others unaccounted for as search and rescue efforts continue in the collapse of a 12-story beachfront condo in Surfside, Fla., north of Miami.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that the death toll had risen to four and that 159 people were unaccounted for, up from 99 the day before.
“Unfortunately, this has been a tragic night,” Cava said.
Heavy machinery was brought in to assist in the search and rescue efforts, which she described as “very active” as they entered a second full day.
More than 130 firefighters are involved in the operation, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah said. Most are using “light” equipment, including shovels, handsaws and buckets, as they work through the wreckage.
About 55 of the building’s 136 units collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Nearly three dozen people were pulled from the rubble by midmorning Thursday, but no new rescues were reported Friday.
Three more bodies were removed overnight, and Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said authorities were working with the medical examiner’s office to identify the victims.
Still, officials remained hopeful that some survivors might be found.
“We still have hope that we will find people alive,” Cava said.
Rescue workers continue to hear sounds amid the rubble, but Jadallah cautioned that they were not necessarily human sounds, but could also be twisting metal and shifting debris.
“Every time we hear a sound, we concentrate on those areas,” Jadallah said.
On Thursday afternoon, President Biden authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid in the rescue and recovery efforts, as well as to provide help for displaced families.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who declared a state of emergency to make it easier for federal aid to be allocated, toured the site on Thursday.
“The TV doesn’t do it justice,” DeSantis said. “It is really, really traumatic to see the collapse of a massive structure like that.”
It is unclear what caused the building, which was built in 1981, to collapse.
A researcher at Florida International University told USA Today that the building has been sinking into the wetlands at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by the school. But it’s too soon to say whether that contributed to its collapse.
Barry Cohen, one of the building’s residents, told the Associated Press that he and his wife were asleep when he heard what he thought was a crack of lightning. The couple went onto their balcony, then opened the door to the building’s hallway to a “gaping hole of rubble.” They were eventually rescued by firefighters using a cherry picker.
Cohen, a former vice mayor of Surfside, said he raised concerns years ago about whether nearby construction might be causing damage to the building, after seeing cracks in the pavement by the pool.
Pamela Ramis, who lives across the street from the collapsed building, told Yahoo News that she was awakened at around 1:30 a.m., when her own building started to shake.
When she went outside, she saw the dust and debris and realized the building had collapsed.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Ramis said. “I thought something had exploded, a missile, I don’t know. I never imagined witnessing something like this, especially here in the U.S.”
She said she could hear the search and rescue dogs barking shortly after they arrived.
“I think the dogs arrived around 5 a.m., and they were barking so much,” Ramis said. “Every time I heard a bark, I felt anguish, because I knew they were probably finding bodies.”
— Laura Ramirez-Feldman contributed reporting
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