Surfside building collapse: Death toll up to 18, including two children
By Joey Flechas, Daniel Chang, David Goodhue, Bianca Padró Ocasio, and Doug Hanks, Miami Herald
Surfside, Florida - Two children were among the six bodies pulled from the rubble on Wednesday of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, as rescue teams worked through the seventh day of scouring the site for survivors.
The children found were aged four and 10.
Levine Cava said at the evening press briefing in Surfside that the death toll has risen to 18 people, though only 12 families have been notified of their loved one’s death.
Levine Cava said 139 people who lived or worked in the portion of the tower that collapsed have been accounted for, but another 145 are still reported missing.
"The loss of our children is too great to bear. Our community, our nation, and the world we are all mourning with these families," Levine Cava said.
Teams have been working through the rubble at a faster pace after engineers and first responders built a ramp overnight Tuesday to bring cranes, backhoes and other heavy equipment closer to the sunken pool deck, which experts and survivors have said collapsed first, potentially triggering the disaster.
Search and rescue efforts complicated by crumbling debris
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky emphasized that the priority is still search and rescue, and noted that conditions on the pile are becoming more dangerous as debris moves and shifts or falls from the portion of the tower that remains standing.
Though heavy equipment is allowing workers to move larger and heavier pieces of debris, Cominsky said some large concrete slabs are not holding together.
"They’re crumbling as we try to move them," he said.
Levine Cava pledged that officials would also get to the bottom of what caused the collapse, saying that she has spoken with Miami-Dade’s state attorney about asking a grand jury to investigate the catastrophe.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the local community later today.
Cover photo: IMAGO / UPI Photo