House Collapse in Florida: Search for Survivors Continues

After the partial collapse of a twelve-story apartment building near Miami, rescuers continue to search for survivors. Up to 151 other people could have been in the building. Meanwhile, another body was found.

Four days after the partial collapse of a high-rise building in Florida, the search for survivors continues. The number of dead rose to ten. “We recovered another body this morning,” said Miami-Dade District Administrator Daniella Levine Cava at a press conference.

The whereabouts of a total of 151 people are therefore still unclear. According to the authorities, it is a list of people who could potentially have been in the house at the time of the accident. Cava emphasized that the search for them continued unabated.

Extinguished several fires

Currently, six to eight teams are constantly on the lookout at the rubble mountain – with sniffer dogs, special cameras, listening instruments and heavy equipment. The rescuers took turns with hundreds of other helpers who remained on standby. Rain hindered the work, but at least fires that had made the rescue work more difficult were extinguished.

Andy Alvarez of the Miami-Dade fire department told ABC that rescuers had already found some cavities, mostly in the basement and underground car park. One tries desperately to find more such rooms. Cranes would have lifted huge chunks of concrete from the rubble.

NASA equipment in action

One of the special devices that the rescuers handled was a microwave radar from the NASA space agency and the Ministry of Homeland Security, which can detect signs of life even behind 20 centimeters thick concrete. It reacts to breath and heart sounds, said Adrian Garulay, whose company sells the devices.

The residential complex known as Champlain Towers South from the 1980s with around 130 residential units had partially collapsed on Thursday night. The cause is still unclear.

At the weekend, an inspection report from 2018, written by an external company, became public, in which experts listed several defects – including major structural defects in the building’s concrete. It remained open whether these could be related to the collapse.

Cava promised again that the cause of the accident would be investigated. The focus is currently on the search.