Rescue ends in US Florida building collapse as death toll rises to 54
A member of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue hugs a victim's relative at the "Surfside Wall of Hope & Memorial" near the site where a building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, north of Miami Beach, on July 7, 2021.
The death toll in the partial collapse of a 12-story residential building in Surfside of US state Florida has risen to 54 on Wednesday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference.
The mayor said 86 people remain unaccounted for, and the 14-day search effort would switch from rescue to recovery at midnight after a ceremony and moment of silence for the victims at 7:15pm (11:15pm GMT).
The search and rescue team concluded there was "no chance of life" in the rubble, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a private briefing earlier on Wednesday.
Emergency teams would remove rescue dogs and sound devices but would continue to search through the rubble for the bodies of victims, Jadallah added.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on Wednesday morning that it was unclear whether flaws in the structure were unique to the building, its construction or maintenance. Implications of the collapse for new state regulations were also uncertain at the moment.
"I think we need to get those definitive answers," he said.
The collapse occurred around 1:15am (5:15am GMT) on June 24 at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the beachside town that sits around 9.6 km north of Miami Beach.
Since the collapse, multiple Miami-area buildings have been evacuated, local media reported.
