Search for survivors of collapsed Miami apartment building has ended

Miami-Dade Deputy Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a closed-door public conference that crews would remove rescue dogs and specialized sound devices, but would otherwise continue to search the rubble of the bodies of their relatives. “Our only responsibility at the moment is to shut them down,” he said.

Another Argentinian victim

At the same time, the toll of the collapse rose to 46, while 94 people are still missing, local authorities said, who also revealed the identity of three other victims, including an Argentinian and his Uruguayan wife, parents of the photographer Graciela Cattarossi.

Miami-Dade police have confirmed it was 89-year-old Argentinian Gino Cattarossi and 86-year-old Uruguayan Graciela Cattarossi. Authorities had already identified the couple’s daughter, Graciela, as well as her 7-year-old daughter Stella; both lived with the photographer’s parents. Her aunt, Andrea, was visiting at the time of the tragedy.

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The site was hit by winds and rains from Tropical Storm Elsa, which made landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday, as crews entered inaccessible areas before the controlled collapse of the rest of the building, whose instability threatened the work of rescuers.

A few days ago the little Stella, 7 years old, was identified, a news that caused a stir. His father, an American, was present at the discovery as he was one of the Miami-Dade firefighters working at the site.

The Cattarossi family resided in apartment 501 at Tours Champlain Sud. Graciela, 48, worked as a photographer. “Her dedication to the girl was second to none,” her friend Kathryn Rooney Vera told the Miami Herald.

Andrea Cattarossi, Graciela’s sister and Stella’s aunt, had recently traveled from Argentina to Surfside to visit her family. She is still missing since the tragedy.