SURFSIDE, Florida (AP) — A sad moment of silence marked the end of a two-week search for survivors of a Florida condominium collapse, as rescue workers stood in solemn attention and clergy members hugged a line of local officials , while many of them cried .
The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday, when officials said they had come to the painful conclusion that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside .
“We’ve all asked God for miracles, so the decision to transition from rescue to recovery is extremely difficult,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levin Cava told a news conference.
The death toll stood at 54 late Wednesday night. Officials said 86 people were unaccounted for, although detectives were still working to verify that each one listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed.
Levin Cava said rescuers spent two weeks digging through the rubble, searching in vain for any signs of life.
“They have used every possible strategy, and every possible technology available to them, to find the people in the wreckage,” she said. “They’ve removed more than 7 million pounds of concrete and debris from the mound. They’ve used sonar, cameras, dogs, heavy machinery. They’ve searched spaces and they’ve found victims. They’re in a building. fled, which they were told might fall, and faced fire, smoke, torrential rain and strong winds, hoping to find people alive.
Pablo Langsfeld is embraced as he visits the victims’ memorial in the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building, as search and rescue efforts transition to a recovery operation July 7, 2021 in Surfside, Florida . Mr. Langsfeld’s daughter Nicole Langsfeld is one of the missing from the building collapse. (Joe Radl/Getty Images/AFP)
Hours before the formal transition from rescue to recovery missions, those emergency workers were joined by local officials, rabbis and clergy in a moment of silence.
An unseen accordion player played Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” on a nearby tennis court, followed by a piccolo playing “The Battle Ham of the Republic”. Firefighters from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the federal government and elsewhere were also present.
On a high fence nearby, families and well-wishers posted pictures of the victims, helpful messages and flowers. Firefighters hung a banner above the fence that read “Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Morns With You.”
The officials resolved to continue the recovery efforts till the remains of all the missing people were found.
Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Rad Jadallah told families during a private briefing that the crew would stop using rescue dogs and hearing aids.
“Our only responsibility at this point is to shut down,” he said, as relatives cried in the background.
Workers walk after the collapse and subsequent collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Fla., Tuesday, July 6, 2021. (AP photo/Lynn Sladkey)
Later, during a press conference, Jadallah said the personnel were committed to doing whatever they wanted to finish the job.
“The resources are still there. Men and women are still there. Support is still there,” said Jadallah, who wept silently after speaking.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Kominsky said he expects the recovery effort to take several more weeks.
Dennis Durkmaat, an anthropology professor who chairs the Department of Applied and Forensic Sciences at Mercyhurst University, said he expects the crew to use heavy equipment in a “top down approach” to systematically lift material from the rubble pile , put it in containers and evaluate it. For evidence of human remains. He said the process would be repeated as the crew moved to subsequent floors.
“It is still a process, a slow, tedious process of removing all this debris. And so it is going to take some time,” he said.
Hopes of finding survivors were briefly rekindled, when workers dismantled the remainder of the building, allowing rescue teams to access new areas of rubble.
Members of a search and rescue team leave after working in the debris field of the Champlain Towers South condo, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald via AP)
Some of those voids existed, mostly in basements and parking garages, but none survived. Instead, the teams recovered more than a dozen additional victims. As the building collapsed in the early hours, many people were found dead in their beds.
No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the 12-storey building collapsed on June 24.
Twice during the search operation, the instability of the remainder of the condominium building and preparations for demolition forced rescuers to postpone the mission.
After initially hoping for a miraculous rescue, families slowly prepare themselves for the news that their relatives are no more.
“For some, what they’re telling us, it’s almost a sense of relief when they already know [that someone has died] And they can just end that chapter and start moving on,” said Maggie Castro, a Miami-Dade firefighter and paramedic who has updated families daily.
Officials are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse and at least six lawsuits have been filed by the Champlain Towers families.