Live Updates: 99 Still Unaccounted for in Building Collapse Near Miami Beach

[Demovictory9]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/24/us/miami-building-collapse

Search teams waged a desperate effort on Thursday afternoon to find and rescue survivors still trapped in the rubble of a high-rise condo building that collapsed in the dark of early morning in the oceanfront town of Surfside, Fla., just north of Miami Beach.

“They’re doing everything they can to save lives,” Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said at a news briefing. “We still have hope to be able to identify additional survivors.”

Officials have accounted for 53 people who lived in the building, but 99 people remained unaccounted for by mid-afternoon, said Rachel Johnson, a spokeswoman for the mayor of Miami-Dade County. Ms. Johnson stressed that the numbers continued to shift as the authorities figure out how many people were actually in the building overnight.

At least one person was killed in the collapse that survivors described as being “hit like a missile,” the authorities said. With so many people unaccounted for on Thursday, many more fatalities were feared.

Governor DeSantis said after touring the wreckage of the 12-story Champlain Towers South that search-and-rescue teams had “made contact” with some people and still hoped to identify survivors caught in the dusty jumble of concrete and steel.

[frazzled]

1. I'm hoping most were snowbirds who weren't there

A lot of people buy condos that they use only in the colder months. Impossible to think that that applies to all 99 missing, but one can hope.

[sop]

2. At that hour most people would be home, probably in bed and sleeping.

Video of the building collapsing is shocking. I fear the death toll will be high.

[secondwind]

3. There is an Argentinian family there on vacation.. with their children.

Praying that they will be okay.....

[Jirel]

4. 99? Really?

12 stories, 1/3 of the building. That may be the number of people mentioned on leases, but not the number of people who were in the building. I suspect the number of dead will be double that, maybe more.