Rescue work resumes in areas that are safe at condo site as Biden leaves South Florida Douglas Hanks, Bianca Padró Ocasio, Martin Vassolo, David Ovalle, and Alex Harris, The Miami Herald
Jul. 1 After a 15-hour hiatus, the search-and-rescue effort at Champlain Towers South Condo resumed Thursday evening, just as President Joe Biden boarded a plane and concluded his visit to South Florida.
Biden s visit, a week after the building collapsed, included visits with first responders and grieving families as well as a brief stop at one of the memorial walls. He and first lady Jill Biden laid a bouquet of white flowers next to several saint candles. They held hands while they looked at the photos of some of the faces of victims and missing persons.
Surfside Miami Condo Collapse Death Toll Rises to 18, Includes Children
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
1 Jul 2021
The death toll in the Surfside Miami condo collapse has risen to 18 as 145 people remain missing, one week after the tragic event.
The death toll rose to 18 on Wednesday and includes two children, 4 and 10, according to reports.
“Any loss of life, especially given the unexpected, unprecedented nature of this event is a tragedy,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. “But the loss of our children is too great to bear.”
Search and rescue operations remain underway, and President Joe Biden is expected to visit the grieving community Thursday.
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(Updates with Biden’s remarks, info on his visit)
Miami, Jul 1 (EFE).- President Joe Biden promised Thursday to remain in ongoing contact with the families of the dead and missing in the condominium building collapse in Surfside, Florida.
During a speech he delivered at a local hotel at the close of his one-day visit to Miami-Dade County, the president explained that one of the reasons for his visit was to be able to meet with family members of the dead and missing, who, he said “are going through hell.”
Biden commented that some relatives had asked him if the emergency workers are going to be able to rescue any more survivors from the rubble of the collapsed building or if the families will be able to bury the remains of their loved ones that are presumably somewhere in the ruins of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building that pancaked to the ground in the wee hours of June 24.