Florida condo death toll rises to 79 after another body is found

Reuters

Published Jul 09, 2021 12:27PM ET

Updated Jul 09, 2021 09:25PM ET

(Reuters) -The death toll in the collapse of an Miami-area condominium tower rose to 79 on Friday after workers extracted 14 more bodies from the ruins and said they had reduced the pile of debris down nearly to ground level.

The recovery left 61 people still missing and feared dead in the concrete and steel rubble of the 12-story oceanfront building in Surfside, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told an afternoon news conference.

The number of missing could change as it remains possible that not all were in the building when it abruptly crumbled to the ground in the early morning hours of June 24. Officials have yet to determine the cause of the disaster.

Crews working around the clock for 16 days have cut the size of the debris pile from four or five stories to nearly ground level, with some at below-ground level.

The pace at which crews were finding the dead has accelerated since teams demolished a still-standing section of the building over the weekend, allowing greater access inside the ruins and more use of heavy equipment.

Levine Cava said a cat named Binx that had been living on the ninth floor of the building before it caved in had been found alive in the area, calling the discovery after more than two weeks "a small bit of good news."

A debate has already sprung up among members of the stricken community over what to do with the site where the Champlain Towers South once stood, with attorneys for some of the victims' family members suggesting it should be a memorial to the dead.