Search and rescue effort halted in Florida building collapse

SURFSIDE, Florida -- One week after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in south Florida's Miami-Dade County, at least 18 people have been confirmed dead while 145 others remain unaccounted for, officials said.

But the massive search and rescue efforts were paused Thursday morning due to concerns about the stability of the remaining structure and the potential danger it poses to the crews. Structural engineers are on site monitoring the situation as rescuers evaluate possible options and determine the next steps, according to Levine Cava.

"We're doing everything that we can to ensure that the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue our search and rescue operations as soon as it is safe to do so," she said during a press conference in Surfside on Thursday morning.

Officials were unable to provide a timeline for when the urgent operation will resume.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky told reporters that crews observed a shift of 6 to 12 inches in a large column hanging from the still-standing structure as well as some slight movement in the concrete floor slabs just after 2 a.m. local time, prompting concerns that the rest of the condominium could collapse.

Earlier, police officers on site had told ABC News that rescuers reported hearing cracks and were investigating the stability of the building.

The structure was cleared by crews last week, and all search and rescue resources have since been shifted to focusing on the pile of debris. But the two sites are side-by-side and the remaining building has posed challenges for the hundreds of first responders trying locate any survivors or human remains in the wreckage.

One area of the site had to be roped off on Tuesday due to falling debris. Then on Wednesday, officials said crews were no longer entering the remaining structure because it's considered unstable.

The conditions for rescuers, who are each working 12-hour shifts, are "tough" as they risk their lives in hopes of saving others amid heat, humidity and rain, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky. But "spirits are high" and they are still "hoping for a positive outcome," Cominsky told reporters.

"We're exhausting every avenue here," Cominsky said prior to the pause in the search efforts. "But it's a very, very dangerous situation and I can't understate that."

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett acknowledged that there had been questions from families about when the efforts will transition from search and rescue to recovery.

"This is going to go on until we get everybody out of there," Burkett said.

Over the past week, crews have cut a vast trench through the pile of rubble to aid in their search as they try to tunnel through the wreckage and listen for sounds. As they work to reach the bottom of the pile, cameras placed inside the pile show voids and air pockets where people could be trapped, according to officials.

Rescuers are using various assets, equipment and technology, including specially trained dogs that are searching for signs of life, underground sonar systems that can detect victims and crane trucks that can remove huge slabs of concrete from the pile. Crews have already moved more than 3 million pounds of concrete -- over 850 cubic feet -- and dump trucks are gradually moving the debris to an alternate site, officials said.

Some of the first responders are members of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's urban search and rescue team, Florida Task Force-1, which is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Urban Search and Rescue Response System and has been deployed to disasters across the country and around the world. Search and rescue teams from Israel and Mexico have also joined the efforts in Surfside.

Col. Golan Vach, head of a unit of the Israel Defense Forces that specializes in search and rescue operations, arrived in Surfside with his team early Sunday and has been on scene ever since.

"We find everyday new spaces, new tunnels that we can penetrate into the site," Vach told ABC News on Wednesday.

The ongoing operation in Surfside is the largest-ever deployment of task force resources in Florida's history for a non-hurricane event. But as the Atlantic hurricane season ramps up, officials are monitoring storms in the region in case some resources deployed to Surfside are needed elsewhere, according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Although officials have continued to express hope that more people will be found alive, no survivors have been discovered in the rubble of the building since the morning it partially collapsed. Bodies, however, have been uncovered throughout the site, which crews have categorized into grids, Cominsky said.

Officials have asked families of the missing to provide DNA samples and unique characteristics of their loved ones, such as tattoos and scars, to help identify those found in the wreckage. Detectives are also in the process of conducting an audit of the list of those accounted and unaccounted for, according to Levine Cava.

Shortly after the building partially collapsed, first responders heard cries for help from a woman trapped in a lower level that was now inside the parking garage. But a wall of concrete and other debris stood in their way, one rescue worker who asked to remain anonymous told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.

"The first thing I remember is thumping on the wall," the rescuer recalled. "And then I remember her just talking, 'I'm here, get me out! Get me out!'"

"We were continuously talking to her," he added. "'Honey, we got you. We're going to get to you.'"

Crews never abandoned their effort to reach the woman but the rescue worker said he later learned that she did not survive.

Biden to meet with rescuers, families in Surfside

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Surfside on Thursday, according to a statement from the White House. Last week, the president approved an emergency declaration in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts in the wake of the partial building collapse.

The Miami-Dade County mayor told reporters that Biden's visit "will have no impact on what happens at this site."

"The search and rescue operation will continue as soon as it is safe to do so," Levine Cava said at the press conference Thursday morning. "The only reason for this pause is concerns about the standing structure.”

The Bidens are expected to arrive in Florida on Thursday morning and then will go to the scene of the disaster to meet with first responders, search and rescue teams and those offering support.

The Bidens will meet with families of the victims in the afternoon before the president is scheduled to deliver remarks at the St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort in Miami Beach.