Death toll rises as scientists examine the cause of Florida condo collapse

SURFSIDE, Fla. – Heavy machinery scooped debris at the site of the collapsed Champlain Towers South Friday morning, ushering in the third weekend of a grim recovery effort in the town of Surfside since the tragic disaster.

As excavators turned over heaps of broken cement and twisted steel, smaller backhoes combed through the pile — no longer in search of survivors but victims, 14 more of whom were found in the rubble overnight, emergency managers said.

The overnight recovery raises the death toll to 78 people confirmed dead from the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo on June 24, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press briefing Friday.

“This is a staggering and heartbreaking number that affects all of us very deeply,” she said.

At least 47 of the recovered bodies have been identified and their families notified, Levine Cava said. An additional 62 people remain potentially missing.

As the recovery continues, the search for answers has accelerated, with more scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST arriving in Surfside to comb for clues to the unprecedented structural failure, Levine Cava said.

“NIST has made significant progress in tagging and transporting pieces of forensic evidence from the pile,” she said. “They’ve now collected over 200 pieces of evidence and they recently deployed scientists from the physics measurement lab in Washington to assist with the analysis.”

Over the past three weeks, crews have removed 13 million pounds of concrete and debris from the disaster site, with 60 trucks a day hauling away heaps of rubble.

The chug of heavy machinery and the smell of exhaust formed the backdrop for a single lane of morning traffic heading south on Harding Avenue and past scattered visitors at the memorial wall where family and friends have posted pictures of their missing loved ones.