Death toll climbs to nine in Miami building collapse as over 150 remain missing
ITV News US Correspondent Emma Murphy reports as rescue efforts go into their fourth night
The death toll from a building collapse in Miami has risen to nine, the local authority has said.
Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava said one victim had died in the hospital, while workers had pulled more bodies from the wreckage since Saturday.Scores of rescue workers remained on the massive pile of rubble, working to find survivors among the 156 people who remain unaccounted for. On Sunday morning, Surfside mayor Charles Burkett assured families that rescuers were working nonstop. “Nothing else on our mind, with the only objective of pulling their family members out of that rubble,” he told ABC’s “This Week.” “We’re not going to stop doing that -- not today, not tomorrow, not the next day. We’re going to keep going until everybody’s out.”
Champlain Towers South, a 12-storey tower in Surfside, a small town just outside Miami, collapsed on Thursday.
"It's a lot more devastating in person than it is in pictures," rescue worker Captain Rick Vila said.
"If we save one life that makes it all worthwhile," he added.
In downtown Miami, the Paramount Miami Worldcentre tower has been lit with the words “One World, One Prayer.” Organisers plan to light up the condo building with the message every night for two minutes on the hour until all victims of the collapse are accounted for.
Late on Saturday, Mayor Burkett said a city official had led a cursory review of the nearby Champlain Towers North and Champlain Towers East buildings but “didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.”
Meanwhile, it emerged that a 2018 engineering report on the collapsed block revealed that it had “major structural damage” to a concrete structural slab below its pool deck.
The report was among a series of documents released by local officials.
While the engineering report from the firm of Morabito Consultants did not warn of imminent danger from the damage, and it is unclear if any of the damage observed was responsible for the collapse, it did note the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix the systemic issues with the building.
Watch firefighters rescue two women from their apartment on Thursday
It said the waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.
“The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas.
“Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report said.
Further documentation showed the estimated cost of the repairs would total over $9 million (£6.5 million).
While officials said no cause for the collapse has been determined, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said a “definitive answer” was needed in a timely manner.