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Friday, April 19, 2024

Tenth body pulled from Florida building collapse

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Tenth body pulled from Florida building collapse
Tenth body pulled from Florida building collapse

[NFA] Officials on Monday said a tenth body had been pulled from the debris of a beachfront high-rise that partially caved in, with more than 100 people still unaccounted for.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

Rescue workers scouring the rubble of beachfront Florida high-rise found another victim of the catastrophic collapse.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the grim discovery on Monday.

"This morning, we did recover another body.

That brings the count to ten." She said 151 people were still unaccounted for.

The Champlain Towers South building in the town of Surfside partially collapsed in the early hours of Thursday as residents slept.

What caused nearly half the 40-year-old, 12-story, 156-unit building to cave in has yet to be determined.

But according to minutes of a meeting first reported by NPR, a Surfside town inspector reassured residents that the building was sound - despite an engineering review that warned of major structural damage.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters Monday he found that revelation "disturbing"- "Most recent are a couple of disturbing comments that I saw regarding minutes, board minutes at the Champlain South towers with respect to some of our officials." -and pledged to the get to the bottom of what happened.

In 2018 an engineering firm retained by the building found serious concrete deterioration in the underground parking garage and major structural damage in the concrete slab beneath the pool deck.

The engineer reported the deterioration would "expand exponentially" if it was not repaired in the near future.

But month later the city inspector who reviewed the report told residents the tower was safe.

NPR reported the inspector is no longer employed by Surfside.

Officials on Monday stressed that they still hoped survivors may be alive under the rubble, aided by air pockets in the debris, but they have not detected any signs of life.

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