Miami landslide: new victim confirmed, hope of finding people alive in rubble dwindles

Along with the large deployment of human and material resources, the number of victims of the collapse of a 12-storey building in Surfside (Miami-Dade) now stands at 12considering that, five days after the events, the family and friends of the 149 disappeared lose hope of finding them alive.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said on Tuesday he felt “Frustration” and “anger” among family members who are waiting for the miracle of finding their own alive.

The Mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, and the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, during a press appearance with those responsible for the search and rescue operation, endeavored to emphasize that rescuers do everything in their power, “break their backs” in the words of the second, find victims in the rubble.

Levine Cava said this morning there was 210 people working on the disaster site who will be relieved at the end of their 12 hour shift by as many rescuers. there are more than 800 people assigned to the operation, with different tasks, according to what was said at the press conference.

The best lifeguards in the world

“They are sufficient and we have the best in the world,” said Levine Cava, who thanked the President Joe Biden’s announcement that he plans to visit the site of the collapse on Thursday.

The same day but last week, at 1:30 a.m. 55 apartments of 136 who owned the 40-year-old Champlain South towers building, they collapsed for reasons not yet determined but already under investigation.

From various sources and documents it is known that At least since 2018, there was information that the building had structural issues.

In April 2021 the president of the building community reported that the deterioration of the reinforced concrete already detected by a design office three years ago I was making significant progress, according to local media reported on Tuesday.

The mayor of Miami-Dade said on Tuesday that The South Florida attorney’s office is seeking a grand jury to investigate the tragedy and has supported the initiative.

This information, as well as rare results of the search for victims, they feed frustration relatives of the missing, who were on Tuesday 149.

According to the mayor, the list is not “final” and an attempt is underway to collect information from consulates in various countries to make it more precise.

He also indicated that the 12 victims confirmed to date have already been identified. Among the missing are people from countries such as Israel, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Among the deceased, there are also foreigners.

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Miami-Dade Fire Chief, Alan cominsky, underlined the difficulty and the risk of the research work and the great effort made by the rescuers, among which there are teams from other American states and Mexico and Israel.

He said, The rubble mountain has been reviewed “layer by layer” continuously for six days.

In total, he was removed using heavy machinery three million pounds (1.3 million kilograms) of debris.

During these six days, the work of the rescuers was hampered by a fire at the foot of the rubble heap and which produced thick and potentially toxic smoke, in addition to rains Yes storms.

According to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, Another concern for rescuers is that rubble is starting to fall from the part of the damaged building that is still standing.

“Overnight, some things fell from the building which is still standing. And we’ll have to sort it out. I understand from my discussions over the past few days that (…) they will have to remove these parts so that workers can safely get down there, ”Burkett told the media ahead of the press conference.

To control the fire, a super firewall in the middle of the mountain of rubble, which also allowed rescuers reach areas and angles they couldn’t reach before.

It wasn’t until the first day that people were found alive in the rubble., but the heads of the rescuers and the authorities repeat that it is still possible to find survivors, as has happened in other tragedies.

With information from the EFE

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