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The bodies of two sisters, aged 4 and 10, have been pulled from the rubble of the collapsed Miami condo as the Miami-Dade mayor called it a tragedy 'too great to bear.'

The bodies were the most recent to be recovered after rescue efforts were halted due to structural stability concerns on Thursday. 

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava made the announcement nearly a week after the Florida building came crashing down. 

After some preliminary remarks at a media briefing, she took a deep breath to gather herself and stared down at her notes. She spoke haltingly and said the disclosure came with 'great sorrow, real pain.'

'So any loss of life, especially given the unexpected, unprecedented nature of this event, is a tragedy,' she said. But the loss of children was an even heavier burden.

Miami-Dade police later identified the children as 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara. 

PICTURED: Marcus Joseph Guara, 52 years old with Emma Guara, 4, Lucia Guara, 10, and Anaely Rodriguez, 42, all now confirmed victims of the condo collapse

The bodies of the girls and mother were recovered Wednesday, days after Marcus' body was found

Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo

The remains of their father, Marcus Guara, 52, were pulled from the rubble Saturday and identified Monday. The girls and their mother, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, were recovered Wednesday.

The family lived on the eighth floor of the condo.

Peter Milián, Marcus' cousin, told the Miami Herald he was 'extremely grateful' to first responders before news of the girls' deaths emerged.

'We’re realistic, but we always pray for a miracle,' Milián stated. He added of Marcus, 'He was a great brother, uncle, cousin, son, and loved his daughters passionately. He loved life'

'He didn’t stay mad at anyone for very long,' Marcus' friend Jeff Keller wrote on Facebook. 'That's who he was.'

Marcus was a BMX rider who rowed at the University of Miami and worked in the hospitality industry.

'It’s just a real tragedy,' Mike Spring, a rowing teammate, told Local 10 of Marcus' death. 'He had a very magnetic personality, I can’t remember a time when he was mean spirited, he was always the type of person who was trying to be helpful and friendly and keeping it light.'  

He went on to work as a regional sales manager for bed and bath textile company Kassatex.

CEO Ernesto Khoudari said, 'From the moment he started working with us, his creativity, vivacity for the business, charming smile, and never-give-up attitude fueled his passion for our company, and his relationships he made along the way.'

Lucia made her first communion at a church in 2019, while Emma was baptized at the same church in 2016. 

'They were very connected to the church community,' said Father Juan Sosa of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. 

Navah Lisman, a classmate of Lucia, said it was 'absolutely terrible what happened.' She started a GoFundMe for the family before the the news of their passing emerged, which has raised over $15,000 so far. 

Search crews going through the ruins found the remains of a total of six people Wednesday, bringing the number of confirmed dead to 18. 

It was the highest one-day toll since the building collapsed last Thursday into a heap of broken concrete. The number of residents unaccounted for stands at 145.

Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building, where scores of people remain missing almost a week after it partially collapsed

Earlier in the day, crews searching for survivors built a ramp that should allow the use of heavier equipment, potentially accelerating the removal of concrete that 'could lead to incredibly good news events,' the state fire marshal said.

Since the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South last week in Surfside, rescuers have been working to peel back layers of concrete on the pancaked building without disturbing the unstable pile of debris.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members of those missing that the ramp allowed rescuers to use a crane on sections that were not previously accessible. He said that improves the chances of finding new pockets of space in the urgent search for survivors.

'We hope to start seeing some significant improvement in regards to the possibility of (finding) any voids that we cannot see,' Jadallah said.

In an interview with Miami television station WSVN, state Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis described the ramp as 'a Herculean effort' that would allow crews 'to leverage massive equipment to remove mass pieces of concrete,' which could lead to good results.

Patronis told The Associated Press that the ramp will permit heavy equipment to get closer to areas where debris needs to be cleared. 

The new equipment includes a so-called nibbler, a massive machine that has a scissors-like tool at the end of a long arm to cut through concrete and rebar.

Officials have been concerned an underground parking garage could collapse under the weight of heavy equipment, so they decided to build the makeshift limestone ramp, Patronis said. He said dogs are used to check for survivors in the area where the machine works, and then the nibbler is sent in.

'So you can really make some serious rapid headway just because of the sheer hydraulic forces this thing can exert versus a human being with hand tools,' Patronis said.

People attend a vigil in honor of residents of a partially collapsed residential building as the emergency crews continue search and rescue operations for survivors

Michelle Cash plays a quartz crystal merkaba during a vigil, Monday, June 28, 2021

A woman prays as people mourn at the memorial site created by neighbors in front of the partially collapsed building

The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building's ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had 'major structural damage' and needed extensive repairs. The report also found 'abundant cracking' of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.

Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had 'gotten significantly worse' and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.

Rescuers still faced enormous obstacles as they spent a seventh day searching for survivors. The pancake collapse of the building has frustrated efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space.

Heavy machinery sits parked in front of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo

Officials were also worried about the possibility of severe weather interfering with search efforts. 

Crews have already had to deal with intermittent bad weather that caused temporary delays in the work, and they are now keeping an eye on a potential tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said some of the resources in Surfside might have to be removed in case the storms hit any part of Florida. ''Tis the season and you've got to be ready,' he said.

The possibility of severe weather prompted state officials to ask the federal government for an additional search and rescue team. 

Kevin Guthrie of the Florida Division of Emergency Management said the new team would be on hand if severe weather hits, allowing crews that have been working at the site for days to rotate out.

Authorities said it's still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse last Thursday.

Officials said at a Thursday morning press briefing several on-site structural engineers had issued warnings about the safety of first responders working beneath the part of the structure still standing. 

Six to 12 inches of movement had been noted in a large column that was hanging from the structure that experts warned could fall and cause damage to support structures, keeping the shell of the building upright.  

Miami- Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said search and rescue teams had been 'working in a very, very, unsafe environment' as he admitted he did not know how long the operation would be on hold. 

'I don't have a timeframe now,' he said.

As of 1pm local time, the search was paused and yet to resume as experts worked out how to proceed safely - costing valuable time as hopes of finding anyone else alive increasingly fade.     

THE MIAMI CONDO COLLAPSE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED SO FAR

54-year-old Stacie Fang

STACIE DAWN FANG

Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, was with her son Jonah Handler, a teenager, when the building collapsed. They lived on the tenth floor. The boy's small hand waved through the wreckage as a man out walking his dog hurried to the site, climbed through a pile of glass and rebar and promised to get help right away.

Rescuers helped the boy out from under a pile of cement and carried him away on a stretcher to a hospital.

'There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,' members of her family said in a statement. 'Many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time.'

Asked about the boy's condition, a family friend, Lisa Mozloom told the AP 'He will be fine. He's a miracle.'

MANUEL LAFONT

Manuel LaFont, 54

Manuel LaFont, 54, was a proud father, a baseball fan and a business consultant who lived on the building's eighth floor. 

He had a 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Adriana LaFont, the Miami Herald reported.

Adriana asked her friends on Facebook to pray the rosary for Manny before his body was found. 'So many memories inside the walls that are no more today, forever engraved experiences in the heart,' she wrote.

LaFont, a Houston native, coached his son's baseball team, the Astros, at North Shore Park, just a mile away from the Champlain. He was a parishioner at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach. The parish's school parents gathered Saturday afternoon to pray for LaFont and his neighbors who were still missing.

An alumnus of Sharpstown High School in Houston, LaFont had worked across Latin America and the Caribbean for a manufacturing firm, leading a division focusing on roadway safety that built crash cushions and moveable barriers, the Herald reported.

'I got into this industry specifically because I don't want to sell widgets. I want to help people. I want to do something good in this world,' he said at an industry conference in 2016. 'When I die, I want to say that my life meant something.'

ANTONIO AND GLADYS LOZANO

Antonio and Gladys Lozano

Antonio and Gladys Lozano lived on the ninth floor. The two had known each other over 60 years and would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on July 21.

Their sons told WPLG-TV that the couple had joked neither wanted to die before the other, because neither wanted to live without the other. Their one solace, the brothers said, was that they were together when they died.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that Antonio, 83, and Gladys, 79, were among the dead.

Sergio Lozano said he had dinner with his parents hours before the collapse. He lived in one of the towers of the complex and could see his parents' apartment across the way from his. That night, he said the heard a loud noise they thought could be a storm.

'The building is not there,' he said he told his wife. 'My parents' apartment is not there. It's gone.'

ANA ORTIZ, HER HUSBAND FRANK AND HER SON LUIZ 

Ana Ortiz, left, and her son Luis Bermudez and Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina (right) 

Luis Bermudez, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, had battled with muscular dystrophy for years and used a wheelchair. The 26-year-old man lived with his mother Ana Ortiz on the seventh floor of the Champlain Towers South.  

His father, also named Luis Bermudez, texted the AP saying 'my son is a hero.' He also wrote on Facebook that he could not believe he's gone.

'Now rest in peace and without any obstacles in heaven,' he wrote. 'I will see you soon my Luiyo.'

Ortiz, 46, had just gotten married with Frankie Kleiman. Alex Garcia, the couple's close friend, told The Miami Herald he had set them up on a blind date. Kleiman lived with his wife and stepson on the same floor as his brother Jay Kleiman, who was in town for a funeral, and their mother Nancy Kress Levin. The Kleimans and their mother are still missing.

50-year-old Frank Kleiman, left, was found on Monday. He was Ana's husband

Ortiz was described as a woman who was committed to giving her son the best possible life.

'She´s a rock star. And gorgeous," Garcia told the Herald. "And on top of that a super mom.

FRANK KLEIMAN 

Kleiman, 50, was the husband of Ana Ortiz, whose body was found alongside that of her disabled son, Luiz, over the weekend. 

LEON AND CHRISTINA OLIWKOWICZ

Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina were also identified as victims of the tower collapse on Sunday evening 

The couple lived on the 8th floor of the condo tower for several years, according to Venezuelan journalist Shirley Varnagy, a close friend of their family.

They were among six Venezuelan natives caught in the building's collapse. Still missing Monday were Moisés Rodán, 28; Andrés Levine, 27; Luis Sadovnik, 28, and his wife, Nicole Langesfeld, Varnagy said.

Varnagy said the Oliwkowicz's daughter had been outside the building waiting for some information about their fate. Her husband answered their phone and asked to be left alone.

The couple's daughter, Mrs. Leah Fouhal, works as a secretary at a Jewish school in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, where the couple donated a Torah in 2019 in a procession that included a vintage fire truck, music and a giant velvet and gold crown, according to COLlive.com, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet that covers Chabad-Lubavitch communities around the world.

Meanwhile, the parents of Rodán, Levine and Sadovnik live in Venezuela and traveled to the U.S. Friday. 'Some did not have a visa, others had an expired passport, but with diplomatic collaboration they were able to arrive,' Varnagy said.  

MICHAEL DAVID ALTMAN

The body of 52-year-old Marcus Joseph Guara was recovered on Saturday

Hilda Noriega  

Hilda Noriega (pictured) was named by her family Wednesday as the 12th confirmed victim of the tragedy 

Hilda Noriega, who lived in Apt. 602 in the 12-story tower, was the mother of North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega. 

She had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday. 

Her body was discovered among the remains of the condo tower Tuesday.

Her family paid tribute to the 'matriarch of the family' in a statement Wednesday.  

Noriega's son had traveled to the collapse site Thursday to look for his mother, who had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.

Among the rubble, the police chief found a birthday card a relative had given to Noriega at a brunch, reported Local10. 

Emma Guara, 4, Lucia Guara, 10, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and Marcus Guara, 52

THE GUARA FAMILY

Miami-Dade police identified 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara as victims in the condo collapse on Wednesday, June 30.

The remains of their father, Marcus Guara, 52, were pulled from the rubble Saturday and identified Monday. The girls and their mother, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, were recovered Wednesday.

The family lived on the eighth floor of the condo.

 

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