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On Monday, rescuers dig wildly for the fifth consecutive day, stressing that they can still find survivors in the rubble. Collapsed Florida apartment building, As an explanation of the cause of the disaster sparked a debate.
This The death toll has risen There were only 4 people on Sunday, and a total of 9 people were confirmed dead.But there are more than 150 people Still missing Located in Surfside near Miami. Their family took a bus to the scene close enough to watch the intense rescue work, including firefighters, sniffer dogs, and search experts using radar and sonar equipment.
Earlier on Monday, a crane lifted a large block of concrete from the debris pile, allowing about 30 rescuers wearing hard hats to enter and put the smaller debris into the red bucket before dumping it In a larger garbage bin so that the crane can remove it. This work has become complicated due to intermittent showers moving in the area, but at least the fire that hindered the initial search has been extinguished.
Andy Alvarez, the deputy accident commander of the Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Brigade, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday that rescuers have been able to find some voids in the wreckage, mainly in the basement and parking area. .
Alvarez said: “We had more than 80 rescuers destroying the collapsed walls at a time. They were frantically trying to rescue the walls that were still viable and to enter the voids that we usually know existed in these buildings.”
“We have been able to walk through the building,” Alvarez added. “This is a frantic search to find hope, miracles, and see who we can bring out of this building.”
Others who saw the wreckage up close were frightened by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez lived with his wife in the corner apartment on the 6th floor and almost escaped the disaster. He said he could hardly believe that there were still people alive in the rubble.
“I just can’t see anyone, you know—I hope God they will find people, but man, you know, if you see what I see: nothingness, then you go there and you will see , Like, all the rubble. How can anyone survive?” Lopez told the Associated Press.
Controversy about the cause of the collapse
Just days before the deadline for the apartment owner to start paying more than $9 million in repair costs, the building collapsed. This was a report suggested nearly three years ago that warned of “significant structural damage.”
According to a report from the National Public Radio (NPR), a town inspector assured residents in 2018 that the building was in “very good condition.” Just a month ago, an engineer warned about the high-rise building Suffered major structural damage that needed repair.
A 2018 report prepared by an engineering company for an apartment building found that the concrete in the underground parking lot was seriously aging, and the concrete slab under the pool deck suffered major structural damage.
Engineer Frank Morabito reports that if it is not repaired in the near future, the deterioration will “exponentially increase.”
But according to the minutes of the meeting first obtained by NPR, Surfside inspector Ross Prieto, who reviewed the report, met with residents the following month and assured them that the building was safe.
According to NPR, Prieto is no longer employed by Surfside. He told the Miami Herald that he did not remember receiving this report.
On the morning after the 2018 meeting, Prieto said in an email to the town manager that the progress was “very smooth” and the residents’ response was “positive”.
The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.
Greg Schlesinger, a lawyer and former general contractor who specializes in construction failure cases, said that it is clear that the defects identified in the 2018 report were the main cause of the disaster.
But Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer working with the apartment association, said that these problems are typical of old buildings in the area and did not shock the board members, who all live in the tower with their families.
Jason Borden, the structural engineer who investigated the building last year, agreed that any signs of deterioration are typical and not serious enough to trigger red flags.
“What I saw when I was there did not shock me at all,” he told CNN on Monday.
Four victims identified
The authorities confirmed the identities of the other four people on Sunday. They are 80-year-old Leon Oliwkowicz; Christina Beatrice Elvira, 74 years old; Anna Ortiz, 46 years old; and Luis Bemo Dess, 26 years old.
The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava (Daniella Levine Cava) said that the number of missing persons is 152. The last person rescued was on Thursday, just a few hours after the collapse.
On a temporary memorial a block away, a laminated poster with a smiling photo of Bermudas and “Mother Anna Ortiz” hung on the chain fence and other signs of “missing” . Flowers and children’s toys were scattered on the fence.
In a letter he shared on Facebook, Bemudez’s father wrote that his son is “my angel, everything to me”.
“I love you and always love you,” Luis Didi Bermudez wrote. “You are and will be the best in my life.”
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