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Published 16:21 02 Jul 2021 GMT
A woman trapped in the Miami condo rubble was heard screaming for hours - but sadly, her cries for help went silent before the search team could reach her.
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky recounted the unsuccessful effort to save the woman on Thursday, July 1 - exactly one week after the Champlain Towers South condo suddenly collapsed.
Cominsky recalled at a news conference, per NBC Miami: "They were searching for a female voice, is what we heard for several hours, and eventually, we didn't hear her voice anymore... we continued to search. And, again, that's emphasizing the magnitude of what we're going through.
"The efforts that all of our fire and rescue personnel, everyone that is here on the scene, trying to do the best we can in these heroic efforts. Unfortunately, we didn't have success."
Thus far, 18 people have been confirmed dead after the building's partial collapse on June 24, and 149 people are still unaccounted for, according to the outlet.
The cause of the deadly crash is still undetermined and an investigation into the tragic affair is ongoing.
Residents of the condo were reportedly made to believe it was in "very good shape" after structural issues were raised back in 2018, per Miami Herald.
However, according to a recent report by USA Today, in October 2020, workers who had been hired to remediate concrete damage at the condo were confronted with excessive deterioration at the site and as such were unable to carry out the work.
At a news conference, the Mayor of the county - Daniella Levine Cava - spoke about the around-the-clock search efforts currently being carried out. She said, according to the New York Post: "We have people waiting, waiting, and waiting for news - that is excruciating."
She added: "We have them coping with the news that they might not have their loved ones come out alive and still hoping against hope that they will. They're learning that some of their loved ones will only come out as body parts."
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited the site of the crash on Thursday as they met with leaders in the state as well as families whose loved ones are still missing days after the collapse of the 12-story condo.
"This is life and death," Biden said at a briefing, per ITV. "We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done makes a difference."
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Published 14:44 30 Jun 2021 GMT
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A chilling audio file has emerged which reveals a firefighter's reaction to the Miami condo disaster.
NBC Miami obtained an audio recording of first responders from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Engine 76 rescuing victims from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium.
Per the above publication, in the Engine 76 communication, a firefighter can be heard stating: "Arrival at 88th and Collins. We have a 13-story building with most of the building gone."
Listen to the audio file in question right here:They continue: "It's going to be a high priority. We're going to need TRTs [Technical Rescue Teams], we're going to need a full assignment on this, everybody.
"A quarter of the building is left, we still have people standing upstairs that still need to be evacuated. We are going to need a full TRT assignment.
"I see many people are the balconies. [There are] no elevators. The building is gone. There are no elevators. It almost resembles the Trade Center."
According to The Miami Herald, at least 16 people have been killed and a further 11 injured, with 149 currently remain unaccounted for, after the 12-story-high beachfront condo collapsed on Thursday, June 24.
Per CNN, Nicholas Balboa spoke about the sudden destruction of the building and subsequent rescue of 15-year-old boy Jonah Handler, which he witnessed while out walking his dog.
Balboa stated: "I can only imagine how many people were in their apartments either sleeping or watching TV or just whatever, just living their lives. Unbeknownst to them, the building was about to break away."
A $5 million class-action lawsuit has been filed against the building's condo association in the aftermath of the disaster.
The Brad Sohn Law Firm claims that Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, Inc. failed to "secure and safeguard" its residents and inform them about the lack of safety precautions in place.
Commenting on the lawsuit, lawyer Brad Sohn stated: "We are committed to compensating these vulnerable families, whether they have lost a loved one, lost the place they called home, or suffered injury."
Published 16:41 07 Jul 2021 GMT
Officials have stated that there is "no liveable space left" in the rubble of the Miami condo disaster.
According to The Sun, on Tuesday, July 6, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky stated in an interview that first responders are still actively searching the debris of the collapsed commotion for survivors, as the death toll creeps to 46.
Per the above publication, Cominsky stated:
"We’re definitely searching. Unfortunately, we’re not seeing anything positive that continues in that sense.
"The key things we are looking for all throughout in regards to void space, livable spaces, we’re not coming across that.
"So, we’re actively searching as aggressively as we can to see if we can assist with the families and locate individuals."
The 12-story-high beachfront Champlain Towers South condominium collapsed at approximately 10.30 PM ET on the evening of Thursday, June 24. More than 100 people currently remain unaccounted for.
Commenting on the disaster in a recent interview with CBS, Miami Mayor Charles Burkett spoke about the recent effort to partially demolish the rubble ahead of tropical storm Elsa.
Burkett stated: "We need to get back to [searching the rubble] as soon as possible. We need to get this building taken down and we need to move forward with the rescue of all those people that are still left in the rubble.
"The intention is to bring the building down in a westward direction so that the debris pile that exists with victims in it is not affected."
Meanwhile, a $5 million class-action lawsuit has been filed against the building's condo association in the aftermath of the disaster.
The Brad Sohn Law Firm claims that Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, Inc. failed to "secure and safeguard" its residents and inform them about the lack of safety precautions in place.
Commenting on the lawsuit, lawyer Brad Sohn stated: "We are committed to compensating these vulnerable families, whether they have lost a loved one, lost the place they called home, or suffered injury."
While the cause of the incident has not yet been established, the construction at Eighty Seven Park is now being scrutinized.
Published 10:08 28 Jun 2021 GMT
A man whose mother was in the Miami condo that collapsed has said she heard "creaking noises" just one day before the tragedy.
Pablo Rodriguez explained that his mother and grandmother are still missing after the collapse of the 12-story building on Thursday, June 24, CNN reports.
The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida, took place at around 1:30 AM on Thursday morning, and Rodriguez's mother and grandmother had been living together in one of the apartments.
Listen to Rodriguez open up about his tragic situation below:Rodriguez explained that he'd received a phone call from his mother the day before the building collapsed to say that she had heard creaking noises that were loud enough to prevent her from sleeping.
"She just told me she had woken up around 3 [or] 4 in the morning and had heard like, some creaking noises," he told CNN. "They were loud enough to wake her."
He explained that he didn't think much about the telling comment as he could have never imagined the tragedy that was about to unfold.
"It was like a comment that she made off-hand like that's why she woke up and she wasn't able to go back to sleep afterward," he told the outlet.
He added: "Now, in hindsight, you always wonder."
In a different interview with USA Today, Rodriguez said that his mother and grandmother are aged 64 and 88, respectively.
Officials said on Friday morning that the official death toll now stands at four, with 159 people from the building currently unaccounted for.
A $5 million class-action lawsuit was filed against the building's condo association on Thursday, June 24, because it had failed to "secure and safeguard" its residents.
It's not yet been established by authorities why the section of the building fell.
The White House announced that President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida, which means that federal assistance for disaster relief has now been authorized.
If you would like to help provide relief to the families of the victims and survivors, a GoFundMe has now been set up.
Published 14:39 06 Jul 2021 GMT
A woman was denied permission from a judge to save her pet from the standing part of the stricken Miami condo prior to the building being completely demolished.
It has been nearly two weeks since the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, a residential building in Surfside, Florida, near Miami.
Part of the condo had remained intact but was evacuated due to safety concerns. Sadly, an unnamed woman's pet had been left stranded in the condo.
The doting owner had an emergency petition filed on her behalf to save the animal, Miami Herald reports - but to no avail.
Over the weekend, attorney Paula Phillips filed the request for her client Stacey Karron, an animal rescue volunteer and paralegal who hoped to enter the standing portion of the structure in order to save an emotional support pet for one of the residents.
It has not been confirmed, but is believed that the pet in question was a cat named Coco, who lived in a fourth-floor apartment with an 89-year-old woman and her daughter.
However, the request was promptly denied by Judge Michael Hanzman, despite the attorney stating that Karron would have accepted all liability for any injury sustained in the rescue mission.
Hanzman said, per the Miami Herald: "Despite these Herculean efforts and the tireless, daunting work that has been done, there is going to be loss of life here. Loss of human life and animal life."
Philips argued that Karron was fully aware of the risks of the operation, stating: "They understand the risk. They understand the building can come down at any time."
But just about an hour later, with a tropical storm approaching, the condo was demolished in its entirety with the use of explosives.
It was on June 24, that the building experienced a sudden partial collapse. And as of Monday, July 5, 28 people have been confirmed dead, with 117 people still missing, Reuters reports.
A cause for the collapse of Champlain Towers South has yet to be established, however, residents of the condo were purportedly made to believe it was in "very good shape" after structural issues were raised back in 2018.
Rescue teams are continuing their search in the hope of finding the 117 people who are missing.
Published 10:57 29 Jun 2021 GMT
The death toll in the wake of the Miami condo building collapse has risen to 11 as cracks have been found in the foundation of its sister building.
Tuesday marks the sixth day of search efforts as authorities continue to look for more survivors potentially trapped under the rubble. Thus far, 150 people are still unaccounted for.
A cause for the collapse of Champlain Towers South has yet to be established, however, residents of the condo were purportedly made to believe it was in "very good shape" after structural issues were raised back in 2018, Miami Herald reports.
Residents of sister building Champlain Towers East have begun sharing photos of a substantial crack that came about after its neighboring tower collapsed on Thursday morning.
Those who live in the crashed building's sister condos have been given accommodation elsewhere while the collapse is investigated.
Champlain Towers East resident Robert Lisman told Local10 that he fears the ordeal will have a knock-on effect on nearby buildings.
"I am afraid that there could be some issue in our building that will result in what we saw in Champlain Towers South," Lisman told the outlet.
Inspections were done on the East and North towers and they found "no visible evidence of any major structural concern", per WTVJ. A more in-depth inspection is yet to be carried out.
The county where the tragedy occurred, Miami-Dade, has set up a large family assistance center for those whose loved ones have been missing since the condo crashed last week.
At a news conference, the Mayor of the county - Daniella Levine Cava - spoke about the around-the-clock search efforts currently being carried out. She said, according to the New York Post: "We have people waiting, waiting, and waiting for news -- that is excruciating.
"We have them coping with the news that they might not have their loved ones come out alive and still hoping against hope that they will. They're learning that some of their loved ones will only come out as body parts."
