‘Families are going through hell’
IDF delegation says it believes there are still survivors in Surfside collapse
A week after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, the Home Front Command’s search-andrescue delegation continues to work to find and pull survivors from the rubble.
“We still believe that there are survivors and we are working to rescue them,” Col. Elad Edri, deputy commander of the delegation, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
A section of the 40-year-old building collapsed in the middle of the night last Wednesday, causing at least 16 deaths.
Though 147 people are still missing, there have been no rescues since early Thursday.
“If it had happened during the day, 60% of the people would not have been in the building,” Edri said.
The 10-person Israeli delegation, led by Col. Golan Vach, landed in Miami on Sunday and is continuing to work sideby-side with American and
Mexican teams in a search-andrescue mode. Despite the days passing, they have not shifted to a recovery mission.
Israel has often aided countries struck by natural disasters, sending teams from the IDF Medical Corps and Home Front Command to provide searchand-rescue and medical aid in field hospitals in countries such Brazil, Mexico, Haiti, the Philippines, Japan, Turkey and Nepal.
A large number of the missing are from Miami’s Jewish community, and before the team took off, the IDF said its delegation’s mission is “to assist in the life-saving efforts by mapping the challenges at the site of the destruction, assisting the Jewish community and supporting the local rescue forces.”
On Saturday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that “as with any national mission, the IDF and the defense establishment are ready to respond, act and assist. Every effort will be made to save lives, support the Jewish community and our friend the United States.”
Three hours after the decision was made to send the delegation, the team was at the airport. When they landed in
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