People view a makeshift memorial near the site of the residential building collapse in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the United States, on June 26, 2021. The death toll from the partial collapse of a 12-story residential building has risen to five while the number of missing people rose to at least 159, local media reported on Saturday. | Monica McGivern/Xinhua via Getty Images
As rescue crews carry on with their search for survivors, trauma counselors with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team and other Christian groups are ministering to the families of 150 people who remain missing and nine people who have died after a 12-story beachfront condo building in Florida partially collapsed Thursday night.
Rescuers rotate in 12-hour shifts; none severely injured
Hundreds of Miami-Dade County fire rescue workers rotated in 12-hour shifts at the collapse site, searching for any signs of survivors. No rescue workers have been severely injured, but one worker took a 25-foot tumble, officials said. Every time there is an action, there is a reaction, said Raide Jadallah, assistant chief of rescue operations for the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Team, describing what he called a complex search-and-rescue operation.
Family members saw the danger firsthand Sunday when authorities allowed them to tour the site. They witnessed a rescuer tumble 25 feet down the mound, he said.
The death toll for the Surfside, Florida, building collapse rose to 12, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Tuesday.
The total number of people unaccounted for is now 149 and the number of people accounted for is 125, Levine Cava said during the latest update on search and rescue efforts.
Still, some, including the commander of an Israeli team helping to search the rubble, remain hopeful.
Col. Golan Vach, commander of the Israeli National Rescue Unit, said that while this is the most difficult site he has ever worked, his team found new spaces in the rubble to search Monday and Tuesday.