Month-long search for bodies concludes

Special Desk

Usually building collapse news are forgotten within 24-hours but not in this case where rescuers could finish the search for bodies a month after Florida tower collapse.

Firefighters say their search for bodies in the rubble of the collapsed Florida tower block has finally come to an end. At least 97 people were killed when the 12-storey Champlain Towers South fell in the early hours of June 24 this year.

After a month of combing through the debris, rescuers say one victim remains unaccounted for.  Nobody has been pulled alive from the rubble since the first hours after the disaster.

Officials had to switch from a search-and-rescue mission to a recovery effort on 7 July. Battling tropical storms and the risk of unstable debris, rescuers worked through more than 13,000 tonnes of broken concrete.

The Surfside site has mostly been cleared, with the rubble moved to a state warehouse for further inspection. After the search ended, officials thanked firefighters who worked 12-hour shifts while camping out at the site.

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Some 300 rescuers, including Miami firefighters, the Army Corps of Engineers, and teams from Israel’s defence forces and Mexico, were put in a 24-hour operation after the collapse.

The mission had to be halted several times, due to instability in the mound of rubble as well as Tropical Storm Elsa. Officials had to order the part of the building that remained standing be demolished on 4 July. Officials say there are no more bodies to be found at the site, but remains of Estelle Hedaya are still yet to be identified.