Miami: The death toll from the apartment building last month collapsed in Florida has increased to 94, the local government said on Monday, although identifying the victims became more complicated for three weeks after the disaster.
Mayor Dade County Daniella Levine Cava said 83 of them found had been identified, with 22 people still disappeared.
“There may be a dead person who remains on the countless list until the positive ID has been made,” he said, because the Surfside condo recovery operation entered the 19th day.
“However, the process of making identification becomes more difficult as time goes by, and recovery at this time produces human remains,” said Levine Cava.
“The process is very methodical and careful, and it really takes time,” he said, asking for patience from the victim’s family, which he said in “sadness.” The victim’s identification process is being carried out at the location of the collapse, with police and scientists from the district medical examiner office comparing DNA from the remnants of lost humans.
“It is clear that this has become far more than just a building site that collapses.
This is the Sacred Site,” said Mayor Surfside Charles Burkett said the disaster zone in his small town of around 6,000 people north of Miami.
The Champlain South Tower, a 12-story seafront building, partly collapsed overnight on June 24.
Many investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of a sudden collapse, although the initial findings show the building structure appears in spots.
The 2018 report released by city officials expressed concern “the main structural damage” in the complex, from concrete slabs under the billiard deck to columns and beams in the parking garage.
The rest of the building was dropped in the explosion controlled on July 4 to allow the recovery operation to continue.
Recovery workers make “big progress” in filtering tons of concrete left and other debris left in that location, said Levine Cava Monday, refused to give a certain time for the settlement of the operation.