Death toll at 64 in Florida condo collapse as recovery workers vow not to let up

UPDATE#2, July 8: SURFSIDE, Florida -- Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse are vowing to keep up their search for victims until they have cleared all the debris at the site.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett on Thursday quoted a fire official telling family members that crews will not stop working until they’ve gotten to the bottom of the pile and recovered every single one of their loved ones. He did not identify the official, but said the families were grateful.

The death toll rose to 64, with another 76 people unaccounted for. The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday.

UPDATE, July 8: SURFSIDE, Florida — A somber moment of silence marked the end of the search for survivors of a Florida condominium collapse. Rescue workers stood at solemn attention and clergy members hugged a line of local officials.

The ceremony Wednesday night came after authorities said the rescue mission would now shift to an effort to recover remains from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo tower in Surfside, just outside Miami.

The death toll stood at 60 Thursday morning. Officials said 80 people are unaccounted for, although detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed.

UPDATE #3, July 7: SURFSIDE, Florida -- Miami-Dade County’s mayor indicated eight more bodies have been recovered from the site of the collapsed Florida condo building, bringing the death toll to 54.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Wednesday news conference that 33 of the dead have been identified and 86 people are still unaccounted for after the disaster.

Emergency workers were giving up on any hope of finding survivors in a collapsed Florida condo building. Authorities told sobbing families Wednesday that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble.

They planned to shift their efforts to recovering more remains. The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who said they sought to prepare families for the worst.

UPDATE #2, July 7: SURFSIDE, Florida -- Rescue workers who have labored for 14 days to find survivors in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condo building have shifted their efforts from rescue to recovery.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families on Wednesday that after searching all areas of debris, they have concluded that it will now be next to impossible to find people alive.

The decision to transition to a recovery effort starting Wednesday night came after rescuers finished searching new areas of rubble that became accessible after workers demolished the still-standing portion of Champlain Towers South.

Rescuers had hoped to find pockets where people could have survived in the new areas. The death toll as of Wednesday stood at 46, with 94 unaccounted for.

UPDATE, July 7: SURFSIDE, Florida — The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day on Wednesday, with the death toll at 46, scores still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members in a private briefing Wednesday that workers had pulled 10 more bodies and additional human remains from the rubble, raising the death toll.

Crews “did some significant removal of the pile,” he said. “They were able to get down to various areas to inspect.”

UPDATE:, July 6: SURFSIDE, Florida — The discovery of four more victims in the rubble of a collapsed condominium building raised the death toll to 32, a fire official said Tuesday as a ramped-up search effort faced new threats from severe weather with Tropical Storm Elsa lashing Florida on a path that would mostly bypass the collapse site.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah announced the new death count to family members during a closed-door morning briefing Tuesday, according to video posted on social media. He said rescuers have also been locating more human remains.

Jadallah said there was a two-hour delay early Tuesday as a result of lightning. He said workers have removed 5.5 million pounds of debris from the pile.

At the site of the collapsed building Tuesday morning, power saws and backhoes could be heard as workers in yellow helmets and blue jumpsuits sifted through the rubble for a 13th day. Stiff winds of 20 mph (32 kph) with stronger gusts blew through the area as gray clouds from Elsa’s outer bands swirled above.

UPDATE, July 5: SURFSIDE, Florida — Stormy weather is hampering search efforts at the site of a collapsed Florida condo building. Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah tells family members that a garage area has filled with water, and crews have had to use pumps.

Thunderstorms moved into the area around the Surfside building Monday as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the state. Lighting caused temporary stops to the search.

The effort widened Monday after demolition specialists successfully brought down the remaining portion of the building late Sunday night.

Officials discovered four more bodies in a new section of debris, bringing the death toll from the June 24 collapse to 28.

UPDATE, July 4: SURFSIDE, Florida — Demolition specialists carefully bored holes to insert explosive charges into the precarious, still-standing portion of a collapsed South Florida condo building that will come down to open up new areas for rescue teams to search.

A top Miami-Dade fire official said 80% of the drilling work was complete and the remaining structure could come down as soon as Sunday night. The timing was still not set.

No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the June 24 collapse. So far, rescuers have recovered the remains of 24 people, with 121 still missing.

ORIGINAL REPORT, July 3: SURFSIDE, Florida — A top Miami-Dade fire official has told family members of people missing in the rubble of a collapsed condo building that rescue workers planned to demolish the remainder of the building on Sunday.

Worries have intensified over the past week that the damaged structure could come tumbling down on its own.

Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members during a Saturday morning briefing that the building would be brought down “as soon as possible.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said two more bodies were found in the rubble, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 24. The number of people who remain unaccounted for in the collapse was 124.