Emergency workers conduct search and rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed residential building in Surfside, near Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. June 29, 2021. REUTERS
SURFSIDE, Florida 鈥� Rescue crews searched on through the shattered ruins of a collapsed Miami-area condominium tower early on Wednesday, with hopes of finding more survivors fading after nearly a week of probing and digging.
Twelve people have been confirmed killed in the disaster, which could rank as the deadliest accidental structural failure in U.S. history. But 149 others were still missing and believed trapped in the rubble.
鈥淭he way I look at it, as an old Navy guy, is that when somebody is missing in the military, you鈥檙e missing until you鈥檙e found, and we don鈥檛 stop the search,鈥� Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a news briefing on Tuesday.
鈥淭hose first-responders are breaking their back, trying to find anybody they can,鈥� he said.
But nobody has been pulled alive from the mounds of pulverized concrete, splintered lumber and twisted metal since the early hours of the disaster.
Investigators have not concluded what caused nearly half of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South condo to crumple as residents slept in the early hours of last Thursday.
But a 2018 engineer鈥檚 report on the 12-floor, 136-unit complex, prepared ahead of a building safety recertification process, found structural deficiencies that are now the focus of inquiries.
As recently as April, the condo association鈥檚 president warned residents in a letter that severe concrete damage identified by the engineer around the base of the building had since grown 鈥渟ignificantly worse.鈥�
Grand jury inquiry planned
Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she would convene a special grand jury, apart from any potential criminal investigation, to examine building safety and 鈥渨hat steps we can take to safeguard our residents鈥� from similar disasters in the future.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said search teams extricated the remains of a 12th victim on Tuesday, leaving 149 people listed as unaccounted for. But she said police detectives were conducting an audit of all the missing-persons reports to 鈥渧erify and remove duplicates wherever possible.鈥�
A day earlier she used dire terms in relating how families of the missing were 鈥渃oping with the news that they might not have loved ones come out alive and still hoping that they will.鈥�
鈥淭heir loved ones may come out as body parts,鈥� she said.
President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, planned to pay a visit on Thursday to the scene of the tragedy in the oceanfront town of Surfside, adjacent to Miami Beach, the White House said.
Few if any signs of life have been detected in the wreckage since last Thursday.
Fire officials have spoken of hearing faint sounds from inside the rubble pile 鈥� they acknowledged such noises could come from settling of the ruins 鈥� and finding voids deep in the debris large enough to possibly sustain life.
But Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said on Tuesday that search personnel faced a daunting task while working in 12-hour shifts in the heat and humidity, hampered by intermittent showers and thunderstorms.
鈥淭hat building collapsed almost in a footprint of where that building stood 鈥� we鈥檙e talking about 12 stories, with subterranean garages all within that same footprint,鈥� Cominsky said.
Debris removed from the rubble pile is being trucked to a collection site to be sifted through by detectives for any bits of evidence that will be cataloged and photographed 鈥渇or future investigative purposes,鈥� Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez said.
Florida emergency management chief Kevin Guthrie said the federal government was asked Tuesday to provide an additional urban search-and-rescue team to aid in the effort.