The condominiums partial collapse took place on Jun. 24 at approximately 1:15 am. | Twitter
The condominiums partial collapse took place on Jun. 24 at approximately 1:15 am. | Twitter
A building collapse in South Florida's Miami-Dade County has left at least 11 dead and over 150 people unaccounted for, leaving families grief-stricken and needing answers on the whereabouts of their loved ones.
The partial collapse took place at approximately 1:15 a.m on June 24 at the Champlain Towers South condominium 6 miles north of Miami Beach. The collapse left 55 out of 136 units in the complex destroyed, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, ABC News reported.
"Since minutes after the building collapsed, first responders have worked around the clock to find survivors in Surfside. These are the heroes — @FLCaseyDeSantis and I thank them," Gov Ron DeSantis said in a June 27 tweet.
Over 80 rescuers worked on the pile at a time, according ABC News.
"We're digging through ... rubbles of concrete the size of basketballs, the size of baseballs," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah said in a press conference in Surfside on Monday, June 28. "It's going to take time; it's not going to happen overnight."
Public documents released late on Sunday, June 20, said the waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing “major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas,” according to a report from engineering firm Morabito Consultants.
"There is going to be a thorough and full investigation of what led to this tragic event," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at Monday's press conference, as reported by ABC News. "We are going to get to the bottom of what happened here. Right now, our top priority is search and rescue."
As of Monday, June 21, crews had not yet reached the bottom of the debris from the collapse in rescue efforts.
"This is a frantic search to continue to see that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive," Andy Alvarez, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's deputy incident commander told ABC News. "We're holding up because we're all holding up for that hope, that faith that we are going to be able to rescue somebody. We are working tirelessly to try to bring victims that are underneath that rubble and rescue them."
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