“Our first responders did recover another victim,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters. “In total, the number of people accounted, for now, stands at 136, with 150 unaccounted for. The number of confirmed deaths is 11.”
“These numbers are very fluid and they will change,” she added. “We are continually auditing the list and getting more calls and information from family members, so please stand by for more information.”
Levin Cava went on to say that officials held a Monday briefing for family members, who were continuing to be provided with new developments on the search and rescue operation before information was released to the media. She said that over $1.5 million in donations had been raised to help the families.
Newsweek reached out to Levin Cava for further information and comment.
Champlain Towers South partially collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. Ray Jadallah, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue assistant fire chief, told reporters that around 35 people had been rescued from the part of the building that did not collapse, while two more people were found alive in the rubble.
More than 300 workers on 12-hour shifts, including some from as far afield as Israel, had been involved in the laborious search and rescue effort as it reached its fifth day. Attempts to find survivors over the weekend were at times complicated by smoke and fire located under the debris.
The removal of a piece of concrete weighing 25,000 pounds had to be pre-approved by engineers due to considerable danger posed by the possibility that it could cause a major shift in the remaining rubble, according to The Miami Herald.
Some family members gathered near the site of collapse to shout messages in hopes that their relatives were still alive and could hear them. While the chances of rescue workers finding more victims alive have been diminishing with each passing day, those involved in the non-stop effort are still holding out hope that further survivors will be discovered.
“I always have hope, part of our job is to also bring hope to the community, but with all of the science that I’ve studied and everything going on I do know that time is ticking,” search and rescue physician Dr. Benjamin Abo told CNN on Monday. “I’m cautiously optimistic as time goes on. And this is as a trained rescuer, and also a member of the community.”
The cause of the collapse is unclear, although a 2018 report found that the building had “major structural damage.” Residents and a former manager of the tower reportedly expressed concerns that large amounts of saltwater, which can corrode concrete, would regularly flood the building’s garage. The building passed a roof inspection the day for the collapse, according to Surfside Vice Mayor Tina Paul.
