Surfside condo collapse: Death toll rises to 24; building will be demolished

SURFSIDE, Fla. — The death toll after last week’s partial collapse of a condominium in Surfside has risen to 22 as crews continue to search for survivors and race against time as Hurricane Elsa presents a possible threat to the state of Florida. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava also said she signed an emergency order to demolish the rest of the 12-story building.

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Updated 11:35 a.m. EDT July 3: Rescuers found two more bodies in the rubble overnight at Champlain Towers bringing the number of confirmed dead to 24. There are still 124 people unaccounted for.

Updated 10:53 a.m. EDT July 3: Demolition of the remaining portion of the building will start Sunday, officials said.

Concerns continue to grow that the damaged building could fall on its own slowing search efforts and endangering rescuers.

The building will come down “as soon as possible. First thing tomorrow,” Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

Jadallah said that with the building demolished rescuers will be able to access for the first time a garage area that is the focus of the search.

Original report: Levine Cava said at a news conference Friday that there are 188 people accounted for after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo and there are still 126 people missing. Twenty of the victims have been identified.

Levine Cava also said she signed an emergency order to demolish the remaining part of the building “as soon as engineers sign off on it.”

“This was not a decision we made lightly, and I know especially how difficult this is for the families who escaped and who have lost their homes and their belongings,” Levine Cava said.

Levine Cava said the decision to demolish the building was “done in the interests of public health and safety.”

“We will take no action that will jeopardize our ability to continue the search-and-rescue mission,” the mayor said.

Levine Cava said officials were also keeping an eye on Hurricane Elsa, the Atlantic basin’s first named hurricane of the 2021 season. Early projections have the storm veering near the Florida peninsula, with weather impacting the South Florida area as early as Saturday.

“We’re monitoring this storm very closely,” Levine Cava said.

Meanwhile, the city of North Miami Beach evacuated a condominium Friday because of unsafe conditions, WSVN reported.

The North Miami Beach Building Department ordered the evacuation of the Crestview Towers Condominium because of unsafe structural and electrical conditions, the television station reported.

>> Evacuation ordered for condo in North Miami Beach

Earlier Friday, Levine Cava announced that two more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage left when the Champlain Towers South building partially collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24.

“Tragically, one of those victims was the 7-year-old daughter of a city of Miami firefighter,” Levine Cava said.

Officials did not immediately release the girl’s name. So far, authorities have released the names of 20 of the victims. They have been identified as Bonnie Epstein, 56; Claudio Bonnefoy, 85; Maricoy Obias-Bonnefoy, 69; Hilda Noriega, 92; Antonio Lozano, 83; Magaly Elena Delgado, 80; Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; Gladys Lozano, 79; Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74; Frank Kleiman, 55; Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Manuel LaFont, 54; Marcus Joseph Guara, 52; Michael Davis, 50; Anna Ortiz, 46; Anaely Rodriguez, 42; Luis Bermudez, 26; Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21; Lucia Guara, 10; and Emma Guara, 4.

The name of the 7-year-old child was withheld at the family’s request. The police originally referred to Maricoy Obias-Bonnefoy as Maria, the Miami Herald reported.

“This is so excruciating for everyone,” Levine Cava told CNN on Friday evening.

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