99 Feared Missing in Rubble of Collapsed Condo in Surfside As Search, Vigil Continue

99 missing as condo collapses near Miami Beach, FL | Miami Herald https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/mia...
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MIAMI BEACH
99 feared missing in rubble of collapsed

condo in Surfside as search, vigil continue
BY MARIE-ROSE SHEINERMAN, SAMANTHA J. GROSS, BIANCA PADRÓ OCASIO,
DOUGLAS HANKS, AND DANIEL CHANG ! " # $

UPDATED MAY 12, 2022 11:22 AM
1 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
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Miami-Dade County identified the final known victim of the Surfside condo collapse, capping more than a
month of recovering bodies and remains of the missing from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South
complex. Here's a list of those who died. BY MIAMI HERALD
After the dust had settled and the fog of incredulity had lifted, Soriya Cohen had
only prayer and hope and questions — lots of questions — about the abrupt and
violent collapse of a 12-story oceanfront condominium tower in Surfside early
Thursday morning.
NEW UPDATED STORY: Heartbreaking task of recovering bodies underway at

condo site. Four deaths confirmed
First and foremost in Cohen’s mind was the whereabouts of her husband, Brad
Cohen, whom she had not seen or heard from since part of the Champlain
Towers South Condo came crashing down, wiping away 55 units in mere
seconds.
Brad Cohen was inside one of those units on the 11th floor along with his
brother, Gary Cohen, said Soriya Cohen, when the building collapsed at 1:23
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2 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
a.m., the time that Miami-Dade Fire Rescue first responded to a call for help at
the condominium tower. Soriya Cohen had spent the night with their daughter
at a different building in neighboring Miami Beach.
“We can’t find him,” Soriya Cohen said Thursday afternoon, showing anyone
who could help a photo of her husband that she keeps in her iPhone. She said
rescuers took a DNA sample of their daughter in case they need it to identify
Brad Cohen’s body.
“He hasn’t responded for 15 hours. … Maybe he’s alive, I don’t know.”
READ NEXT
MIAMI BEACH
‘The apartments were gone.’ Survivors recount harrowing escape from

collapsed condo
JUNE 24, 2021 8:14 PM
Those last three words underscored the agony shared by dozens of survivors
and loved ones of the missing who gathered at the Surfside Community Center
seeking answers and solace. And they echo the response of many who cannot
fathom how a concrete structure housing dozens of homes could suddenly fall
to the ground.
“It’s the unimaginable,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“It’s a terrible, terrible nightmare that we have here on Surfside.”
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3 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
It will likely be months or even years before engineers and other experts know
exactly why a part of the Champlain Towers South came crashing down.
Before those answers are found, search and rescue crews will continue the
painstaking work of picking through a mountain of rubble, looking for even the
faintest signs of life that might be buried inside the two-story-high pile of debris.
More than 20 hours after the partial collapse, the death toll remained unknown.
Officials confirmed at least one death, and said 35 survivors were pulled from
the wreckage, with 10 injured persons treated at the scene and at least two
transported to a hospital.
Miami-Dade County police said as many as 99 people are reported missing.

There were 102 people from the building who had been accounted for. The part
of the tower that collapsed held 55 units. The remainder of the 136-unit tower
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remained standing, though residents have been evacuated.
The disaster occurred while most who live in the building were in bed. The
tower at 8777 Collins Ave. crumpled with “a bang that just kept on going,” said
former Surfside Vice Mayor Barry Cohen, who moved into a third-floor unit in
the tower in June 2018.
Barry Cohen said he and his wife gathered their belongings and rushed out of
their condo after they were awakened by the noise and realized what was
happening. Unable to navigate through the debris, twisted metal and a flooded
parking garage, the couple returned to their unit and called for help from the
balcony.
The Cohens and their two neighbors waited 20 minutes before firefighters
rescued them from their balcony with a cherry picker bucket.
“I was worried it was all going to go down,” Barry Cohen said.
Security camera footage of the collapse looked eerily similar to a controlled

demolition, minus the flash of explosives. One side of the tower buckled first
before more of the structure collapsed into a pile of rubble. The cause of the
collapse is unknown, though one building expert deemed it “an oddity of
biblical proportions” for the 40-year-old structure to fall unexpectedly.
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A different expert, John Pistorino, who has a 50-year career as a consulting

engineer in Miami, said such a collapse “should never happen.”
“It is so dramatically unusual that it’s hard to compare to anything other than a
building going down in a city in a state of war,” said Pistorino, who played a key
role in drafting the county’s 40-year building recertification policy and other
building safety rules. Champlain Towers South was in the early stages of its 40-
year recertification.
‘THERE’S A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY’
In a scene reminiscent of 9/11, evacuees and family and friends of residents

gathered at the nearby Surfside Community Center, many carrying photos of
missing loved ones. More than 700 missing-person reports came in to a Miami-
Dade hot line and web page set up to track victims of the collapse, according to
the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
Levine Cava, the county mayor, said in an evening video briefing with county
commissioners that the count of missing people remains an estimate. She said
6 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
“102 people who were in the building have been accounted for.”
“Unfortunately,” Levine Cava added, “99 at least are unaccounted for. Some of
those may not have been in the building.”
Sergio Barth, a Doral resident, said his brother, Luis Fernando Barth, was
visiting South Florida from Colombia with his wife and 14-year-old daughter to
get the COVID-19 vaccine. The family was staying in a friend’s condo at
Champlain Towers South.
“Early this morning I heard on Colombian radio that a building had collapsed in
Surfside, and I knew the area,” Barth said, “and I started putting the dots
together.”
Barth soon discovered that his brother and family are among the missing.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said, “no useful information right now.”
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As news of the collapse spread across the globe, relief organizations and others
launched efforts to support those who were forced to flee their homes with little
or no belongings. An online donation fund for victims and families, set up by the
Shul of Bal Harbour, had raised more than $160,000 from more than 1,300
donors as of Thursday afternoon.
Others who jumped in to help include the Miami Heat, the Miami Heat
Charitable Fund, the Coral Gables Community Foundation, the Key Biscayne
Community Foundation and the Miami Foundation, working together to build a
hardship fund.
The disaster has united hundreds of strangers seeking to help, said Ryan
Mermer, a member of the Shul who started a WhatsApp group chat to rally the
community and collect blankets, phone chargers, sweatshirts, pain relievers,
water and snacks.
“People are coming together more than ever,” Mermer said.
By Thursday evening, volunteers had put up signs outside the Surfside

Community Center telling drivers to take their donations elsewhere. The family
reunification center had received more than it could handle, said a volunteer
with the American Red Cross.
8 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
Multiple Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue trucks are on the scene at the Champlain Towers South Condo in
Surfside, 8777 Collins Avenue, after the early morning collapse in Surfside, Florida, Thursday, June 24, 2021.
Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
OFFICIALS PROMISE HELP, ANSWERS
Local, state and national leaders addressed the building collapse on Thursday,
offering to send help and find answers.
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9 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer held out hope that search and rescue
dogs would lead workers to survivors in the rubble. By late morning, she noted
the troubling silence. “They aren’t turning up very much,” she said. “No one is
celebrating anyone being pulled out.”
Salzhauer said the Champlain Towers South was undergoing the required 40-
year recertification to ensure its structural integrity, and that the building’s roof
was being redone. She added that a building inspector had visited Champlain
Towers on Wednesday, but she did not know what the inspector found. It is
unknown if any construction activity contributed to the disaster.
“The residents that I talked to were not aware that there was some kind of
problem or issue that would cause something like this,” Salzhauer said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking at a press conference one block away from the
Champlain Towers, said he toured the scene and what he saw was worse than
he had expected.
“The TV doesn’t do it justice,” DeSantis said. “It is really, really traumatic to see
the collapse of a massive structure like that.”
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DeSantis thanked first responders for risking their lives to search for survivors
when it was unknown if the building was stable enough to enter.
He said engineers and other experts would probe the evidence to determine
what went wrong.
“You’re not going to have those answers immediately,” he said.
News of the disaster also reached the White House, where President Joe Biden
said he had a “long discussion” with Levine Cava, the county mayor, about the
building collapse.
Biden put the onus on DeSantis to declare a state of emergency so federal

resources, including FEMA help, can be deployed.
“We are ready to move federal resources immediately,” Biden said. “We can’t go
in and do it but FEMA is down there taking a look at what’s needed, including
whether the rest of the buildings need to be evacuated as well.”
11 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
He said federal resources could help with recovery, cleanup and shelter for
families who were displaced.
“I’m waiting for the governor to declare an emergency,” Biden said. “We’re
working on it, and I made it clear, I say to the people of Florida: Whatever help
you want that the federal government can provide, we’re waiting. Just ask us,
we’ll be there. We’ll be there.”
DeSantis signed an emergency declaration early Thursday evening.
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Part of Champlain Towers South Condo, in Surfside, collapsed early Thursday morning. Miami-Dade search
and rescue is combing through the rubble for victims and survivors. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
‘CRIES FOR HELP’ AND AN EERIE PREMONITION
As help begins to pour in for victims and families of the collapse, survivors of
the disaster and their loved ones relayed the details of their traumatizing
experiences.
Adriana Chi was waiting outside Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma
Center in Miami early Thursday, worried about two relatives inside and a third
she had yet to locate.
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Chi said her brother, sister-in-law and teenage niece lived in a ninth floor unit
of the Champlain Towers South. Chi was able to speak with her niece ahead of
her emergency surgery at Ryder, and she said the 16-year-old recalled being
awakened by her mother and a shaking building before the floor gave way
beneath them.
“She felt the building shake,” said Chi, a nurse practitioner. “Then everything
collapsed.”
Chi said her sister-in-law, a psychologist, was taken to Ryder as well but that she
did not know the whereabouts of her brother, an attorney. Chi said her father
has owned the unit in Champlain Towers South for about 30 years, and that
leaks were a chronic problem.
Between tearful cellphone calls in the hospital’s driveway and hugs with other
family members gathered outside, Chi recalled an eerie premonition she had
shared with her brother.
“The last time I was there, I looked at him and I said, ‘I am serious. This building
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14 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
is going to collapse.’ ”
Alfredo Lopez, who lived in a sixth-floor corner unit with his wife and son, said
he awoke to a series of loud booms that shook his bed and startled his family.
They evacuated the building with a group, making their way out through a
crack in a crumbling wall near the crumpled pool deck, where Lopez and others
could hear what they could not see through the thick cloud of dust.
“Exiting the pool area, I could hear people crying and screaming for help,”
Lopez said.
15 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
The rubble at Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, located at 8777 Collins Avenue, after the early
morning collapse on Thursday, June 24, 2021. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
A DESPERATE RESCUE SCENE
The massive search-and-rescue effort began before dawn. Rescuers from Miami-
Dade’s Urban Search and Rescue Team worked quickly to free residents from
the warped steel and concrete that trapped them in their homes, sometimes
cutting through balconies to reach survivors in the part of the structure that
was still standing.
16 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
At an evening press conference, Miami-Dade’s mayor emphasized the rescue

operation was proceeding overnight — and that images of a seemingly idle
scene didn’t always capture the intensity of efforts below the surface.
“We are working round the clock,” said Levine Cava, who oversees county fire
and police agencies. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Miami-Dade, also
touched on complaints that efforts weren’t moving quickly enough.
“Sometimes when you watch it on television, it can be hard to ask for patience
in a time like this,” he said.
Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez, the county’s police director, said his agency’s victim
coordinators were helping counsel relatives of the missing, including those
frustrated by the rescue pace.
“This is a slow process. We understand their pain,” he said. Ramirez said with
rescue crews often underneath the rubble, the scene can look misleadingly
quiet on television. “They don’t see from above what’s really going on,” he said.
Jose “Pepe” Diaz, chairman of the county commission, said the rescue operation
will continue until “the moment hope is gone.”
17 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
“They’re working hard — hard,” he said. “They’re taking every precaution. And
they hope and pray.”
Levine Cava visited the family reunification center at about 9:30 p.m. The center
on 93rd street was still active, with tables of food, sweet snacks and drinks. In
one of the rooms, families sat in front of a TV playing footage of the collapse.
The mayor thanked volunteers and spoke to family members, urging them to be
patient as rescue workers search for survivors.
“We are coming to an end of the first day,” Levine Cava. “There is still hope.”
For family members of those who survived, news of their loved one’s rescue felt
like divine intervention.
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People look at the rubble at Champlain Towers South Condo, 8777 Collins Avenue in Surfside, after part of the
building collapsed on Thursday, June 24, 2021. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Santos Mejía, 50, said he was awakened by a predawn call from his wife, who
was inside a unit on the ninth floor of the collapsed south condo. She is an
overnight caretaker for an elderly disabled woman.
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“She said she heard a big explosion. It felt like an earthquake,” Mejía said.
As he recounted rushing over to the beach from their home near Miami
International Airport, Mejía’s cellphone rang. It was his wife.
“They’re bringing you down?” he said. Tears welled in his eyes. “Thank God.”
As the sun rose, the rescues got trickier. A mother and child were pulled from
the rubble, but the mother’s leg had to be amputated to free her, said Frank
Rollason, director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management.
20 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
A boy was pulled from rubble by firefighters after part of Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida,
collapsed around 2 a.m. on June 24. BY RELIABLE NEWS MEDIA
Just after 8 a.m., Rollason told the Miami Herald that emergency workers
believed they had cleared all easily reachable survivors from inside the tower.
“Everyone who is alive is out of the building,” he said.
One of the search-and-rescue dogs detected someone trapped under a mountain

of concrete around that time. Officials first believed the trapped person was a
child but later identified her as an adult woman.
Rollason said they lost voice contact with her shortly after, but they had not
given up on the rescue effort.
“We’re still working on getting to her,” he said.
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Fire rescue personnel conduct search and rescue with dogs in the rubble of the collapsed Champlain Towers
South Condo in Surfside on Thursday, June 24, 2021. David Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokeswoman Maggie Castro said more than 80 rescue
units from all over the county rushed to the initial scene. Well into the morning
she said the department was in “100% rescue mode.”
She said the department used dogs and sensitive microphones and cameras that
can pick up the slightest sounds, even breathing. But even with the most
advanced technology, she added that only so many rescuers could sift through
the wreckage at one time because they were uncertain about the stability of the
debris.
“We have weather to contend with and we have the danger of the building,”
Castro said. “We’re very careful not to disturb the pile.”
The equipment used by search and rescue teams is so sensitive Castro said, “that
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22 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
we would even be able to hear people scratching.”
Family, residents and tourists from the Champlain Towers and nearby buildings wait for updates at a
reunification center at 9301 Collins Ave. in Surfside on Thursday, June 24, 2021. A part of the Champlain
Towers South Condo at 8777 Collins Ave. collapsed at 1:23 a.m. Thursday. MATIAS J. OCNER
mocner@miamiherald.com
HOW MANY MISSING?
Surfside Vice Mayor Tina Paul said authorities are compiling a list of residents
who remain unaccounted for following the tower’s collapse.
A Realtor with COMPASS who has multiple listings in the building told the
Herald about 70% of the 136 units were occupied at the time by primary or
secondary homeowners. It’s unclear how many other units were in use for
short-term rentals.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said authorities are compiling names called into
Surfside’s missing persons hotline.
“I think we’re trying to piece together who’s missing by tallying up those calls,”
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23 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
he said.
A Miami-Dade Police helicopter flies over the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, which
collapsed in the early morning hours, wiping away 55 condo units. David Santiago
dsantiago@miamiherald.com
Burkett said the building manager does not keep a log of residents, but logs
visitors. First responders were using the list to try and account for the missing.
Dozens gathered at the town’s community center, where the Red Cross was
assisting those who were waiting to hear about missing loved ones. Evacuees of
nearby condo towers and hotels, who were hoping for information on a place to
stay and how to gather their belongings, also filled the community center.
Rollason said the building to the south, which is newer, is far enough away that
it appears to be fine for now. The building on the north, he said, is older and has
been evacuated. The Solara Surfside hotel, which is next to the tower, has also
been evacuated.
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24 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
READ NEXT
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY
‘You can imagine the horrible anguish’ — families searching for Surfside
loved ones
JUNE 24, 2021 8:14 AM
Some residents said they have lived in the condominium complex for decades
and never had any significant problems with the structure until construction
began on a new building just south of Champlain Towers South. The
construction caused tenants to complain about shaking last year, said Norma
Arbide, who has lived in the complex since 1987.
A bunk bed is seen in the rubble at Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, located at 8777 Collins
Avenue, a part of which collapsed in the early morning in Surfside, Florida, Thursday, June 24, 2021. David
Santiago dsantiago@miamiherald.com
The new building is located in Miami Beach, not Surfside, and Arbide said her
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25 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
neighbors were complaining because, “Their building was shaking and

vibrating when they were digging and blasting at the construction site. That
could have caused cracks or some kind of damage.”
A surveillance camera from a nearby building caught the exact moment part of Champlain Towers South
collapsed on June 24, 2021. BY TWITTER
Burkett, the Surfside mayor, noted that the building is not as old as many in the
surrounding area, and that “there is no reason for a building to come down like
that.” There are one-foot gaps between stories where there used to be 10, he
said.
“This doesn’t happen,” he said. “I’ve been here my whole life, and I haven’t seen
anything like this happen.”
When asked if he believed the collapse was an accident, Burkett wouldn’t

hazard a guess.
“What I can say is that a building has fallen down .... I expect that this building is
not salvageable at this point.”
26 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
He said there had been construction work on the building’s roof over the last 30
days, and that, “We’re certainly going to look at that.”
1 of 86
Photo Gallery: Building collapse in Surfside | Thursday, June 24,

2021
Surfside, Florida, June 24, 2021 - Friends and family of those missing following the collapse of a residential
building in Surfside comfort each other at the Surfside Community Center that has been re-purposed as a
family re-unification center. JOSE A IGLESIAS jiglesias@elnuevoherald.com
Peter Dyga, president and CEO of a Florida chapter of the Associated Builders
and Contractors, a national construction trade association, called the partial
collapse at the Champlain Towers “an oddity of biblical proportions.”
“People have to remember, there are thousands of buildings of this height or

taller in South Florida, millions worldwide ... This does not happen. Clearly,
something was wrong,” Dyga said.
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27 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
“We need to find what happened and make sure if there was any kind of
negligence we hold people accountable,” Dyga said.
Dyga urged Floridians not to jump to conclusions as investigators assess

architectural plans, engineering calculations, construction materials, and
maintenance records to try to determine what went wrong.
“This is going to be probably multiple years in trying to figure out what

happened here. There are so many variables,” he said. “It’s probably more than
likely going to be a combination of bad things.”
To Floridians living in other high-rise condos, Dyga stressed calm. “People do

not have to worry about their building falling down,” he said.
Part of Champlain Towers South Condo at 8777 Collins Ave., collapsed at 1:23 a.m. on June 24, 2021. Emily
Michot emichot@miamiherald.com
Miami Herald staff writers Joey Flechas, Charles Rabin, Alex Harris, Linda
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28 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
Robertson, Mary Ellen Klas, Sarah Blaskey, Martin Vassolo and David J. Neal
contributed to this story, as did McClatchy Washington Bureau reporters Alex
Daugherty and Alex Roarty.
Listen to today's top stories from the Miami Herald:
29 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
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This story was originally published June 24, 2021 3:21 AM.
FOLLOW MORE OF OUR REPORTING ON CONDO COLLAPSE: DISASTER IN SURFSIDE
MIAMI BEACH SURFSIDE CONDO COLLAPSE INVESTIGATION
‘We have ruled out nothing’: In After Surfside collapse, Miami-Dade

Surfside condo collapse probe, drafts reforms that fall short of
findings still far away recommendations
JUNE 09, 2022 6:47 PM APRIL 12, 2022 2:16 PM
SEE ALL STORIES ➔
DANIEL CHANG
305-376-2012
Daniel Chang covers health care for the Miami Herald, where he works to untangle the often irrational world of
health insurance, hospitals and health policy for readers.
30 of 31 7/9/2022, 9:09 am
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99 Feared Missing in Rubble of Collapsed Condo in Surfside As Search, Vigil Continue

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99 missing as condo collapses near Miami Beach, FL | Miami Herald https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/mia...

99 feared missing in rubble of collapsed

DOUGLAS HANKS, AND DANIEL CHANG ! " # $

NEW UPDATED STORY: Heartbreaking task of recovering bodies underway at

‘The apartments were gone.’ Survivors recount harrowing escape from

Miami-Dade County police said as many as 99 people are reported missing.

remained standing, though residents have been evacuated.

“I was worried it was all going to go down,” Barry Cohen said.

Security camera footage of the collapse looked eerily similar to a controlled

A different expert, John Pistorino, who has a 50-year career as a consulting

‘THERE’S A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY’

In a scene reminiscent of 9/11, evacuees and family and friends of residents

“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” he said, “no useful information right now.”

“People are coming together more than ever,” Mermer said.

By Thursday evening, volunteers had put up signs outside the Surfside

OFFICIALS PROMISE HELP, ANSWERS

“You’re not going to have those answers immediately,” he said.

Biden put the onus on DeSantis to declare a state of emergency so federal

DeSantis signed an emergency declaration early Thursday evening.

‘CRIES FOR HELP’ AND AN EERIE PREMONITION

A DESPERATE RESCUE SCENE

At an evening press conference, Miami-Dade’s mayor emphasized the rescue

“Everyone who is alive is out of the building,” he said.

One of the search-and-rescue dogs detected someone trapped under a mountain

“We’re still working on getting to her,” he said.

we would even be able to hear people scratching.”

HOW MANY MISSING?

neighbors were complaining because, “Their building was shaking and

When asked if he believed the collapse was an accident, Burkett wouldn’t

Photo Gallery: Building collapse in Surfside | Thursday, June 24,

“People have to remember, there are thousands of buildings of this height or

Dyga urged Floridians not to jump to conclusions as investigators assess

“This is going to be probably multiple years in trying to figure out what

To Floridians living in other high-rise condos, Dyga stressed calm. “People do

Listen to today's top stories from the Miami Herald:

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Alexa | Google Assistant | More

FOLLOW MORE OF OUR REPORTING ON CONDO COLLAPSE: DISASTER IN SURFSIDE

MIAMI BEACH SURFSIDE CONDO COLLAPSE INVESTIGATION

‘We have ruled out nothing’: In After Surfside collapse, Miami-Dade

SEE ALL STORIES ➔

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