Three days after the partial collapse of a high-rise apartment building in Florida, the search for missing persons continued on Saturday night. During the rescue work, four bodies were recovered by Friday, the whereabouts of 159 people were still unclear, as the authorities announced.
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The rescue teams continued to feverishly search for possible survivors in the rubble, although the chances were getting smaller. Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade District Mayor, said at a press conference: “Unfortunately, it was a tragic night.”
“We’ll continue through the night, and God willing, there will be good news in the morning,” said Miami Dade County administrative chief Daniella Levine Cava on Friday evening. 120 people have now been identified, but the whereabouts of 159 other people are still unclear. “We will continue the search and rescue operation because we still have hope of finding the living,” said Levine Cava.
The twelve-story residential building Champlain Tower in the city of Surfside north of Miami Beach collapsed on Thursday night for unknown reasons. Some residents were able to take the stairs to safety or were rescued from balconies. It is feared that many were surprised by the collapse in their sleep.
Rescue teams were on duty with sniffer dogs, special cameras, listening devices and heavy equipment. Every now and then knocking noises can be heard from the meter-high mountains of rubble, reported US media. Several people were injured in the accident in the city of Surfside near Miami Beach. More than 37 people could be saved, said the fire department.
“Nothing else matters. We’re not giving up, ”said Surfside’s Mayor Charles Burkett. The rescuers are on duty around the clock. However, rain made the search more difficult. The residential complex collapsed “like a pancake”. “This is heartbreaking because to me it means that we will not be as successful in finding survivors as we would like to be.”
Councilor Charles Kesl told CNN that he hopes for more survivors: “Realistically, I am not sure how many or whether anyone will be recovered and found alive.” The mayor of Miami-Dade district, Daniella Levine Cava, said with Look at the search: “Every minute counts.”
The authorities emphasized that the missing persons do not necessarily all have to have been in the building. Local media reported that DNA samples were taken from relatives to identify victims.
Among the relatives of missing persons, however, frustration spread: “Not enough is being done,” said Mike Salberg, who flew to Miami from New York after the accident. Five family members, including his parents, are still missing, he told the AFP news agency. “I want answers,” he added. “We are told they have the best teams”, but he doesn’t believe it: “40 hours later, four dead”.
According to Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, many of the missing are from abroad, including Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Canada stated that at least four of its citizens could also be “affected”.
To release additional funds and material after the disaster, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency. This was confirmed by President Joe Biden on Friday so that federal funds can also be made available. The disaster control agency FEMA is also involved. Biden had already emphasized on Thursday that wherever the federal government could help, it would do so. “We’re here,” said Biden.
Experts suspect the collapse of a column as the cause
About 55 of the 130 residential units in the building near the beach collapsed on Thursday night around 1.30 a.m. local time. The misfortune surprised people in their sleep. The Miami Herald newspaper published a video from a security camera showing first one and then another part of the L-shaped building collapsing. The pictures were reminiscent of the scenes in New York during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the paper wrote.
The cause of the accident at Surfside remains a mystery. The residential complex known as Champlain Towers South from the 1980s was only recently examined as part of a routine inspection by experts, said Councilor Kesl.
Professor Shimon Wdowinski of Florida International University (FIU) told local media that he found in an investigation last year that the building, which was built in a wetland, fell several millimeters in the 1990s. That alone hardly triggered the collapse, but it may have contributed to it. “When one part of the building moves in relation to the other, it can create tension and cracks,” he said.
Mayor Cava stated that the building appeared to have collapsed due to structural problems. Structural engineers and firefighters would now work together to support the part of the building that was still standing.
Greg Batista, an engineer who worked on the house a few years ago, told CNN: “If not repaired, chipping can lead to collapse.” For a building to collapse, it is enough if only one pillar is damaged said Batista. “All it takes is a pillar, and everything can collapse like a Jenga tower.”
Another engineer, Kit Miyamoto, summed up Batista’s remarks at CNN: “This collapse is a classic pillar failure. The building was built on several such pillars. And when a pillar collapses, everything collapses. That’s exactly what it looks like. “
“It looks like a bomb has gone off,” Surfside’s Mayor Burkett told NBC on Thursday. “But we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a bomb, but something else.” Citizen Santo Mejil told the Miami Herald newspaper that his wife was a nurse and was in the building at the time of the accident. She told him on the phone that she heard “a big explosion”. “It felt like an earthquake,” she reported. The woman was saved, her husband reported. (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
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