they identified the last victim

Authorities in Miami-Dade County (Florida, United States) have identified Estelle Hedaya, 54, as the last victim of the sudden beach condo collapse that happened over a month ago in Surfside, a small town near Miami Beach.

With Hedaya, the search was over, with a total of 98 deceased for the Champlain Towers South residential building collapse at midnight on June 24 in Miami-Dade County.

“We have identified the last missing person (in the collapse) and informed his family,” he said at a press conference on Monday. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Levine Cava explained that the police and specialists continue the tasks of recovering “identifiable human remains” and personal items in the debris pile moved from the incident site to a warehouse in Miami.

He fondly recalled the “generosity and overflowing love of so many people” since that “unthinkable tragedy” in which “we saw the best of human beings as a community“.

And he spoke glowingly for the rescue teams and firefighters who searched the rubble for 33 days. “as if they were looking for someone from their own family”.

Among the victims, in addition to the Americans, there are Argentines, Cubans, Uruguayans, Colombians, Chileans, Venezuelans, Paraguayans and Israelis, among other nationalities.

Since last Friday, the research work in what is today an esplanade had been completed, without news from Hedaya, despite the claims of his relatives.

That day, tons of debris had already been transported to a consignment near Miami International Airport (MIA), including residents’ personal effects are always removed and that will be the key to the investigation.

Along with Hedaya, who came from a New York Jewish family and worked as a director of operations for an international jewelry company, the authorities have finished identifying the victims, collected local media.

County police said Hedaya’s remains they had been recovered last Tuesday July 20.

Authorities are still analyzing the opening of Collins Avenue, adjacent to a 12-story former residential building with more than 130 apartments, due to possible damage who could have appeared on the road as a result of the accident.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NITS) is investigating the causes of the collapse of the building, built in 1981, which it can take years.

In the courts there half a dozen lawsuits filed against the condominium syndicate, which had structural problems since at least 2018 and deserved urgent attention, according to a report from an engineering firm.

Meanwhile, it is not known what will happen to the land of the residential building that collapsed in seconds.

The judge in charge of several of the lawsuits filed wants the property to be sold at market price and that the money collected, between 100 and 110 million dollars, go as soon as possible to the victims as compensation.

Some owners of the condominium are in favor of the reconstruction of the site, while others are in favor of the land being used exclusively for the construction of a monument in memory of the victims.

With information from the EFE

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