Missing in Fla. tragedy drops to 126
Body of firefighter’s daughter recovered as death toll up to 22
SURFSIDE, Fla. — The number of people missing in the Florida condominium collapse fell substantially Friday, from 145 to 126, after duplicate names were eliminated and some residents reported missing turned up safe, officials said.
Authorities also announced the recovery of four more bodies, including the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter, raising the death toll to 22.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the number of missing declined following an audit.
She explained that when detectives were able to contact people who had been reported as potentially missing, they found that not only were they safe, but other members of their families were also safe. That pushed the list of people who have been accounted for up to 188 and reduced the number of missing, she said.
“So this is very, very good news,” she said, adding that the numbers are expected to keep changing because detectives are continually reviewing the list and verifying reports.
In some cases, English and Hebrew names have been offered for the same missing relative, officials have said.
The 7-year-old girl who died in the collapse was “a member of our fire family,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said.
The discovery of the firefighter’s daughter was especially painful for rescue crews, many of whom have labored for more than a week in Surfside without finding any survivors.
“Every victim we remove,
A woman prays Friday as rescue workers search the rubble of the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida. The death toll stands at 22, with 126 people missing.
it’s difficult,” said Chief Alan Cominsky of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. “Last night was even more when we were removing a fellow firefighter’s daughter.”
He added: “As firefighters, we do what we do. It’s kind of a calling. And we always say that. But it still takes a toll.”
The Miami Fire Department is part of Task Force 2, which has been assisting in the search since the collapse.
The firefighter voluntarily joined the search, officials said, hoping he could help find his daughter and others still missing in the wreckage.
Elad Edri, deputy commander of an Israeli team working at the site, said police officers and firefighters formed two columns to flank the girl’s removal from the debris. Edri said that once she had been taken away, the rescuers embraced and wept.
Levine Cava said she signed an emergency order to demolish the remaining part of the building once engineers have signed off on it. She said the order was signed now so that the demolition can move quickly once a date is set.
Officials previously said it will likely be weeks before the demolition is scheduled.
No one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building.
During a meeting Friday with relatives of the missing, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said that only one voice has been heard during the entire search. A woman’s voice was detected until about 10 or 11 on the morning of the June 24 collapse, which happened around 1:30 a.m. Rescuers were
unable to reach her, and he said no other human sounds have been heard since.
Jadallah also prepared the family members for a possible suspension of the search if Hurricane Elsa — now in the eastern Caribbean — brings strong winds to South Florida that would make the work too dangerous.
Some rescue workers who are now staying in tents will be moved to cruise ships, Jadallah said.
On Friday, about a dozen workers could be seen digging through the pile that now reached about 20 feet, more than 10 feet less than it was a week ago. Cranes were again lifting heavy objects from the pile and then workers would climb into the pile and begin removing smaller rubble by hand.
The rescue work was halted early Thursday after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.
Work resumed shortly before 5 p.m. after the site was evaluated by structural engineers, Levine Cava said.
“We will continue to search feverishly, as we have done all along in the parts of the collapse that we currently have access to,” she said.
The work stoppage had threatened to dim hopes for finding anyone alive in the debris.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the halt was worrisome since “minutes and hours matter, lives are at stake.”
The cause of the collapse is under investigation.
A 2018 engineering report found that the condominium building’s ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed extensive repairs.
The report also found “abundant cracking” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.
Two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had “gotten significantly worse” and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building collapsed.