Search of collapsed condo building shifts from rescue to recovery
Terry Spencer and Adriana Gomez Licon
The Associated Press
SURFSIDE, Fla. 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. Instead they found more than a dozen victims, many of them dead in their beds.
A memorial for the Guara family is posted on a fence near the Champlain Towers South on July 6 in Surfside, Fla. Officials overseeing the search at the site of the Florida condominium collapse seem increasingly somber about the prospects for finding anyone alive. Carl Juste / AP
SURFSIDE, Fla. Rescue crews pulled 10 more bodies from a collapsed condo building Wednesday, and the emotional toll mounted as officials fought back tears and lamented the ordeal of exhausted families still awaiting word on missing loved ones.
The 14th day of the search yielded the highest number of bodies found in a single day and pushed the death toll up to 46.
Surfside condo collapse death toll climbs to 54 as search switches from rescue to recovery: No chance of life John Bacon, Wendy Rhodes, Jorge L. Ortiz and Joel Shannon, USA TODAY
SURFSIDE, Fla. The search efforts at a Miami-area condo building that collapsed June 24 shifted from rescue to recovery Wednesday, ending any hope of finding survivors but possibly providing relatives of the victims a sense of closure.
Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families that, after searching all areas of debris, officials have concluded it will now be next to impossible to find people alive.
“Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure,” he said, adding that workers concluded there was no chance of life.
At this point we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search and rescue mission, Levine Cava said.
Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah told families at a private briefing Wednesday afternoon that the emergency crews would remove the rescue dogs and sound devices, but otherwise would continue to search through the rubble for the bodies of their relatives.
“Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure,” he said, as relatives sobbed in the background.
For about two weeks after Champlain Towers South collapsed, officials stressed their focus on finding survivors a hope that was rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing rescuers access to new areas of debris. The hope was that they might find “voids,” or open pockets in the rubble where someone could have survived.
At this point we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search and rescue mission, Levine Cava said.
Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah told families at a private briefing Wednesday afternoon that the emergency crews would remove the rescue dogs and sound devices, but otherwise would continue to search through the rubble for the bodies of their relatives.
“Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure,” he said, as relatives sobbed in the background.
For about two weeks after Champlain Towers South collapsed, officials stressed their focus on finding survivors a hope that was rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing rescuers access to new areas of debris. The hope was that they might find “voids,” or open pockets in the rubble where someone could have survived.