Friday, July 2nd, 2021
House collapse a week ago
Seven year old discovered dead in Florida
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128 people are still missing after the house collapse in Florida. In the case of two other missing persons, there is now a sad certainty. Now there is also a threat of a hurricane in the region. The recovery is already difficult.
More than a week after the partial collapse of a residential complex in the US state of Florida, two more bodies were found – including a seven-year-old girl. This increases the number of deaths to 20, said the mayor of the Miami-Dade district, Daniella Levin Cava. 128 people would still be missing. The authorities in Miami are now particularly concerned about a hurricane whose branches could hit the region in the coming days.
“Last night we discovered two more victims. Tragically, one of those victims was the seven-year-old daughter of a Miami city firefighter,” Levin Cava said at a press conference. The search and rescue operation continues to have “top priority”. At the same time, plans are being made to demolish the remaining part of the building. Such a demolition could not happen “overnight”, said the mayor.
The building with around 130 residential units partially collapsed last week on Thursday night. The misfortune surprised people in their sleep. US President Joe Biden visited the scene of the accident on Thursday. He promised a thorough investigation into the Surfside incident near Miami. Even more than a week after the accident, the cause of the collapse was still unclear.
Concern for the stability of the part of the building that is still standing
Now there is another significant obstacle on the horizon, said local fire department chief Alan Cominsky, with a view of a tropical storm in the Caribbean that has been upgraded to a hurricane. One now has to see in which direction “Elsa” will move and then react accordingly. “Make sure you have a plan to get to safety if the hurricane gets closer to our coast,” warned Democratic MP Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Cominsky regretted that no survivors had recently been found in the huge heap of rubble. “It’s very difficult,” he said. The fact that the daughter of a firefighter was rescued last night was once again particularly hard for the emergency services. His two main tasks are to save lives and protect his employees, stressed Cominsky. The part of the building that is still standing is particularly delicate for work on the site of the accident.
On Thursday, the search for people buried was temporarily stopped due to concerns about the stability of the part of the building that was still standing. Eventually it was resumed hours later. Several hundred rescuers have been on duty around the clock in the past few days – with sniffer dogs, special cameras, listening instruments and heavy equipment. Shortly after the partial collapse of the large residential complex, emergency teams were initially able to save several dozen people. Subsequently, no more survivors could be found. It is feared that the number of deaths will increase significantly.
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