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The death toll and number of individuals accounted for and unaccounted for from thepartial collapseof the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida, remains the same, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
On Saturday morning, Levine Cava — who has served in her mayoral role since 2020 — announced during apress conferencethat “no further victims” have been found. “The numbers are the same as they were yesterday — 127 have been accounted for, 159 unaccounted for, and four confirmed dead.”
“Our top priority now continues to be search and rescue,” she continued. “We continue to have hope. We’re continuing to search. We’re looking for people alive in the rubble.”
“That is our priority and our teams have not stopped, hour after hour through the night they have been working,” added Levine Cava, 65. “At the same time, we know everyone wants to know what is the cause, what has happened here, and, of course, we are going to conduct a full and thorough investigation with all of our local, state and federal resources coming on the scene.”
During the press conference, Levine Cava also explained that a fire is currently ravaging the site of the incident, causing “incredible difficulties.”
“As you heard, we’re facing incredible difficulties with this fire. The fire has been going on for a while. It’s a very deep fire,” she confirmed. “It’s extremely difficult to locate the source of the fire. And so they’ve been working around the clock, these fire rescue teams, these brave men and women under the rubble to fix this problem so they can get on.”
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The aftermath of the collapse of the condo building in Surfside, Florida.Miami-Dade Fire Rescue/Twitter
“We are continuing our search and rescue because our first responders believe there’s still a possibility,” she said. There are crevices, so there’s air. They’re able to pick through, but right now, obviously, we’re trying to stabilize the situation because of the fire and the smoke."
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also spoke during the press conference event, where the politician, 42, said that crews had been “fighting these fires all night.”
“The stench is very thick, and it obviously has created quite an obstacle,” he added.
source: people.com
