Death toll in Florida building collapse rises to nine
SURFSIDE (AFP/REUTERS) – The death toll after the collapse of a Florida apartment tower has risen to nine, the local mayor said on Sunday (June 27), more than three days after the building pancaked as residents were sleeping.
“We were able to recover four additional bodies in the rubble… So I am confirming today that the death toll is at nine. We’ve identified four of the victims and notified next of kin,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters in Surfside, near Miami Beach, adding that one victim had died in hospital.
She did not confirm how many people are still missing.
Officials said they harboured hope that some of the 156 people unaccounted for might be alive. Aided by dogs, infrared scanning and heavy equipment, they hope people can survive in air pockets that may have formed in the debris.
The search has been painstakingly slow, hampered in the early days by a fire burning deep in the debris mountain which officials have said they believe is now under control.
Officials have stressed that there may yet be survivors buried in the rubble. Ms Cava said teams had cut a “deep trench” through the pile of twisted debris to assist in the search.
“It’s now 125 feet (38m) in length into the pile, it’s 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep,” she said, adding that it was critical to the search process, and that it was as a result of the trench that the additional bodies were recovered.
A newly released 2018 report showed that an engineer found evidence of major structural damage beneath the pool deck and “concrete deterioration” in the underground parking garage of the 12-storey oceanfront condominium, three years before it collapsed without warning last Thursday as most residents were sleeping.
It was not immediately clear whether the damage described in the report was in any way connected with the building’s collapse around 1.30am ET (1.30pm Singapore time) last Thursday.
The condominium was preparing to go through recertification this year, a safety requirement for buildings that are 40 years old in Florida.
The mayor said the county will audit all buildings that are more than 40 years old within the next 30 days to ensure they have all been recertified. Governor Ron DeSantis said officials were weighing whether to evacuate the condominium’s sister building, which was constructed at the same time by the same developer.
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