Miami building collapse - updates: Death toll reaches 12 as extra rescue team requested amid tropical forecast

Authorities have identified eight out of the nine people confirmed to have died in the Miami building collapse. Around 150 people remained missing as of Sunday.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said the dead include Stacie Dawn Fang, Manuel LaFont and Antonio and Gladys Lozano. Four more people who died were identified on Sunday night as Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74; Luis Bermudez, 26; Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; and Anna Ortiz, 46.

The missing include Linda March, whose penthouse apartment was ripped apart, leaving her office chair next to the abyss; Elaine Sabino, a former baton twirler and flight attendant who stayed active as a belly dancer, and Claudio Bonnefoy, a second cousin of the former Chilean president.

Ms March moved to Miami from New York after surviving a Covid-19 infection.

The missing also includes the Patel family – Vishal Patel, his wife, Bhavna, and their 1-year-old daughter. Bhavna Patel is four months pregnant.

Judy Spiegel, 66, is also among the many still missing. “She’s very thoughtful, she cared about the details,” her daughter Rachel Spiegel told the AP. “She was certainly the matriarch of our family.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Rescue workers digging for survivors for the fifth day have said they still hope to find some people alive, despite no survivors having been pulled out of the wreckage since the initial hours after the collapse of the building.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue deputy incident commander Andy Alvarez told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday that workers have found some areas in the wreckage where workers could access the inner parts of the collapsed building, mostly in the basement and parking garage.

“We have over 80 rescuers at a time that are breaching the walls that collapsed, in a frantic effort to try to rescue those that are still viable and to get to those voids that we typically know exist in these buildings,” Mr Alvarez told ABC.

“We have been able to tunnel through the building,” he added. “This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive.”

“You’ve gotta have hope and you’ve gotta have faith,” Mr Alvarez said.

Alfredo Lopez lived in an apartment on the sixth floor. He told the AP: “I just can’t see anybody, you know – I hope to God that they’re going to find somebody, but man, you know, if you saw what I saw: nothingness and then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that?”

An agency that investigated the fall of the Twin Towers in the wake of 9/11 has been sent to Miami, Florida to gather information on the recent collapse of a condominium tower.

The agency, which includes scientists and engineers who specialise in disastrous structure failures, will be deciding whether to launch a full investigation into last week’s catastrophe.

Nearly 160 people have been left unaccounted for and at least nine people have died after the seaside condominium tower collapsed in Surfside, just north of Miami on Thursday.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been sent to the site to collect first-hand information on the disaster including debris, soil borings, photos and interviews, the Miami Herald reported.

“They will come up with possible failure hypotheses for this type of failure,” Abieyuwa Aghayere, a professor of forensic engineering at Drexel University told the newspaper.

He added: “At first, they won’t rule anything out. They will put everything out on the table.”

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A crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the mountain of debris early on Monday, as rescue workers continue to dig through the wreckage in their search for survivors.

The crane allowed around 30 rescue workers to move in and remove smaller pieces of the collapsed building by hand.

Rain have at times impaired the search-and-rescue operation but the fires that initially hampered the work have been put out.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told MSNBC that “they’re working feverishly around the clock, the best teams in the world, starting with our very own. And so they still have the anticipation that they may be able to find some people”.

Dianne Ohayon’s parents, Myriam and Arnie Notkin, were in the building. She told the AP: “We are just waiting for answers. That’s what we want.”

“It’s hard to go through these long days and we haven’t gotten any answers yet,” she added.

The chief engineer of a local hotel has told the Miami Herald that many of the condo towers along the shoreline are potentially dangerous.

Martin, who asked for only his first name to be used, told the paper: “This is not new. We know what it is... The pressure of the ocean, the temperature, the humidity. It’s a beautiful view, but they don’t realize what it does to the structure.”

Martin added that 40-year intervals for building inspections are too long and said that buildings should be reviewed every 10 or 20 years.

While engineers are the first to see cracks and corrosion, they have to go through a chain of command to fix the problems. They first have to report the issues to managers, who in turn go to structural engineers, who report the issues to the condo association boards.

Martin argued that the process simply takes too long. “It’s like a cancer,” he said. “We have to act fast.”

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference that another body had been recovered – bringing the total number of confirmed dead to 10.

She added that 151 people remain missing and that 135 people have been accounted for.

Graeme Massie reports:

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference that a “thorough and full investigation” will take place following the collapse of the condo tower in Surfside, Florida.

At the same press conference, Governor Ron DeSantis said he met with investigators on Monday who previously have worked on high profile forensic cases.

He added that the investigation will take a long time to complete. Mr DeSantis said that he told the Mayor of Surfside and Miami-Dade County that their investigations may provide information sooner and pledged the support of the state.

Ms Levine Cava emphasized that the “search and rescue operation continues” and that rescue workers are exploring “all possible avenues” to reach possible survivors in the rubble.

She said the efforts to find survivors and help those affected were “unprecedented”.

As the death toll from the condo tower collapse in Surfside, Florida rises, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference that the priority is for the family to first be notified of the death of a loved one.

The death toll has risen to 10, with the tenth victim not yet having been identified – 151 people remain missing and 135 individuals have been accounted for.

“This morning we did recover another body, that brings the count to ten,” Ms Levine Cava told reporters at the Monday morning press conference.

“These numbers are very fluid and they will change,” she added.

“Here we are day five, and the search and rescue effort went on through the night,” she said.

She added that the rescue workers are “out there with every resource they need to ensure that they can search this area, sweeping the mound with cameras, with dogs and sonar and additional heavy machinery that has come in to remove the debris”.

“We are exploring all possible avenues that they identify. We will continue to work ceaselessly to exhaust every avenue of search. I repeat the search and rescue operation continues,” the mayor added.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah described the dangerous conditions search crews are working under after hearing criticism from families of some of the missing that the operation is moving too slowly.

He said one worker had fallen 25 feet down a mound of debris as families watch on. He said the search crews are working “feverishly” and “with urgency” to find anyone missing who might still be alive.

He said that they will change position on Monday afternoon, adding that they are searching through parts of the rubble that requires the use of heavy machinery to get around the concrete. It was during this work that the tenth victim was found.

Miami Dade Police director Alfredo Ramirez III said that when it’s possible, they use rapid DNA tests to identify the victims. When that’s not an option, a medical examiner will handle the remains to identify the victim.

“We do it all with respect and integrity,” Mr Ramirez said. “It’s very emotional.”

The rescue site here in Surfside is a buzz of activity. Lines of trucks and emergency response vehicles stretch back as far as the eye can see.

Teams from around the country and the world have arrived to help. They are being supported by a mass of food trucks, volunteers and command centres.

Rescuers here describe an apocalyptic scene at the site of the collapse. Teams have been arriving at the press area here all day drenched in sweat from the humidity.

Moments ago the heavens opened and rain is pouring down, complicating efforts even further.

Everyone working at the site says they hold out hope of finding survivors, but they all add a note of caution that each passing hour dims those hopes.

Families are waiting for news of their loved ones just a short way up the road in a hotel.