Gerald Herbert / AP
Updated July 7, 2021 at 7:49 PM ET
Fourteen days after the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., officials have called off the search for survivors
, effective at midnight local time. Our top priority since Day 1 has been to do everything possible, everything humanly possible, and to explore every single portion of the collapsed grid in search of survivors, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press conference Wednesday evening. At this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search and rescue mission.
No one had been pulled alive from the rubble since the early hours after the building partially crumbled on June 24. Rescue crews who by Wednesday had removed 7 million pounds of concrete and cement from the wreckage had said they would keep searching as long as there was a chance someone could be found.
Gerald Herbert/AP
toggle caption Gerald Herbert/AP
Rescue workers search in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Fla., on June 26. Gerald Herbert/AP
Fourteen days after the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., officials have called off the search for survivors
, effective at midnight local time. Our top priority since Day 1 has been to do everything possible, everything humanly possible, and to explore every single portion of the collapsed grid in search of survivors, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press conference Wednesday evening. At this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search and rescue mission.
ABC Columbia
Officials say 86 people are still unaccounted for after 14 days of searching
Jul 7, 2021 9:01 PM EDT
(ABC News) The search and rescue efforts at the collapsed Surfside, Florida, apartment complex have shifted to a recovery effort as 86 people remain unaccounted for, officials said Wednesday.
“It is with profound sadness that this afternoon I’m able to share that we made the extremely difficult decision to transition from operation search and rescue to recovery,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press briefing Wednesday evening, on the 14th day of the search.
The emergency crews had “truly exhausted every option available to us in the search and rescue mission,” the mayor said, and noted that the families of those still missing had been informed of the decision to transition to a recovery effort and “help to bring closure.”
By BRAD BROOKS, Reuters
Published July 8, 2021 6:55am It is with profound sadness that I m able to share that we made extremely difficult decision to shift from operation search and rescue to recovery, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told an afternoon news conference. SURFSIDE, Florida - Crews recovered 18 more bodies on Wednesday in the ruins of a Miami-area condo complex that collapsed nearly two weeks ago, and Florida officials said there was no longer hope that any of the nearly 100 people still missing might be found alive. A total of 54 bodies have been recovered from the ruins of the Champlain Towers South building so far.