Death toll in the Surfside condo collapse reaches 9
Rescue work continues as more than 150 people remain missing in tower’s rubble
Four more bodies were recovered from the rubble in Surfside as rescue work continued Sunday in the diminishing hope of finding survivors of the collapsed condo tower.
More than 150 people remain missing, although it’s possible not all of them had been in the building. Barring a miracle, it’s clear the disaster will rank with the worst in Florida history, with a death toll that could be more than triple that of Hurricane Andrew.
The four additional bodies bring the official death toll to nine. They were found after rescue workers labored overnight to dig a 125-foot trench through the rubble of the Champlain Towers South tower. Despite the lack of success in the past two days, they’re still searching for signs of life.
“Any void, any crevice that the team sees, that’s where they search through. Any that shows positive potential — any little bit of potential — the crews aggressively head in that area,” Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said at a news conference Sunday.
Despite the hard work of the rescue crews, hopes faded Sunday and many turned to mourning. Family members of
the victims boarded two buses Sunday afternoon for a visit to the site, in what Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava described as “a very private event.”
At Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Father Juan Sosa read the names of missing parishioners.
Here are the names, from a list provided by the Archdiocese: Gonzalo and María Torres, Apt. 912; Magaly Delgado, Apt. 911; Raymond and Mercedes Urgelles, Apt. 211; Hilda Noriega and a companion, Apt. 602; Julio and Angela Velasquez, Apt. 304; Juan and Ana Mora and their son, Apt. 1011; Graciela Cattarossi and family, Apt. 501; and Marcus and Anaely Guara and their two daughters, Apt. 802. Three parishioners were among the 35 rescued.
Levine Cava announced at a news conference that rescue crews recovered four more bodies since Saturday. Of the nine victims, one died at the hospital and the others were found dead at the site. Four of the nine victims have been identified, she said, and authorities are still trying to identify the others.
Despite the somber news from the site, former Surfside Mayor Paul Novack said family members retain hope that loved ones may still be alive.
“I just left the families,” he said Sunday afternoon. “It’s very difficult. We’re not going to give up hope. We have heard of people in other parts of the world being found even days later. So, we are going to hold onto our hope and keep working strenuously 24-7.”
Among the missing are his friends, he said.
“A couple of nice friends, an elderly couple,” Novack said. “Most people in the community do know someone in the building. It’s hard for everyone. Everyone is doing the very best they can.”
Meanwhile, questions arose over a 2018 consultant’s report that warned of “major structural damage” at the base of the building.
Anundergroundfirefrom the gasoline of crushed cars was brought under control, Levine Cava said, allowing rescuers to more easily make their way through the broken concrete, twisted steel and smashed furniture.
Miami-Dade Police have identified four of the dead: Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83; Glady Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont, 54.
New revelations have emerged about the building’s developer, Nathan Reiber, a Canadian citizen who built the condo in 1981. Reiber, who died in 2014, pleaded guilty in Canada in the 1970s to tax evasion for skimming thousands of dollars from coin-operated laundries and issuing $120,000 in checks for phony construction work to cover up the tax cheating, the Washington Post reported.
The late developer’s activities are significant because questions have arisen about the quality of the construction. A 2018 engineering consultant’s report identified a “major error” in placing waterproofing on a flat rather than sloped surface, allowing the pooling of water.
As the search for survivors entered its fourth day Sunday, rescuers in heavy protective gear used cranes, sonar, cameras and search dogs to look for signs of life. Family members have submitted DNA samples to allow for the identification of human remains.
At a 7 p.m. Saturday news conference, Levine Cava announced that the death toll had begun to climb.
When a body is found, homicide detectives photograph, collect and send the remains to the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office, police director Alfredo Ramirez said.
Although the focus remains on the rescue, at least two lawsuits have already been filed and questions have grown about how a concrete and steel highrise could suddenly cave in.
A 2018 report to the condo association by Morabito Consultants said “failed waterproofing” below the pool deck and entrance drive at Champlain Towers South had led to significant deterioration of the concrete. Replacing the waterproofing would be “extremely expensive,” the report stated, because it would require removal of the concrete slab above it.
“Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” said the report, which was signed by Frank Morabito, the company’s president.
The report was posted on the Town of Surfside’s website along with inspection reports and other documents about the collapsed building. It’s unclear whether the damage identified in the report was addressed by the condo association or whether it had anything to do with the building’s collapse, a disaster that experts say will require extensive investigation and may involve multiple causes.
Morabito Consultants issued a statement Saturday offering prayers and saying the firm was “deeply troubled by this building collapse.”
After completing the 2018 report, the firm was hired in June 2020 to create plans for the repairs, which would be done by another company.
“At the time of the building collapse, roof repairs were underway, but concrete restoration had not yet begun,” the statement said.
Several groups have set up websites to raise funds for the victims. Among them are theshul.org/8777 and supportsurfside.org.