• Tue. Dec 3rd, 2024

Miami Search and Rescue Swapped For Recovery, Identification Team

This is an update on the Miami condo collapse.

The rescue team at the collapsed Miami condo has officially transitioned into a recovery team.

The June 24 partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, a condo complex located in Surfside just north of Miami, caused 11 deaths and many more to go missing. Search and rescue teams were dispatched and President Biden even declared a state of emergency for the state of Florida. The Sinclair Clarion reported the story on July 4 and it can be read here.

Now, over two weeks later, the search and rescue teams have transitioned from searching for survivors to recovering dead bodies. “It is with profound sadness that this afternoon I’m able to share that we made the extremely difficult decision to transition from operation search and rescue to recovery,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press conference early Wednesday evening.

The news comes following the realization that no survivors have been found since the morning of the collapse. Officials now report the death toll to be as high as 78 with 62 people still missing in the rubble. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the decision to transition to a recovery team was “a result of a consensus by those closest to the rescue efforts that the possibility of someone still alive is near zero.”

The next step is to identify the bodies and bring closure to their families. As of Wednesday, 53 victims have been identified. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that teams “will identify every single person” who is found in the rubble. 

Among the victims identified are the Guara family. The body of Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, was recovered from the wreckage on June 26 and identified by the Miami-Dade Police Department on June 28. His wife, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, along with their two daughters, 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara were found and identified two days later.

Officials are estimating the time it will take to get through the rubble to be a few weeks. Issues such as unstable debris and inclement weather have proven to be a challenge to the recovery teams. Over 13 million pounds of concrete and rubble have been removed from the scene since the collapse occurred. 

At least six lawsuits have been filed by different families who lived in the condo or had family living there. While an investigation is underway, it is still unclear what caused the incident.

Kris Johnson

Intern