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The still-standing portion of the partially collapsed condo building in Surfside, Florida, was brought down using explosives Sunday night.
The move occurred after 10 p.m. ET, 11 days after the shocking collapse of much of the residential structure on June 24 that resulted in 24 confirmed deaths, with 121 people still unaccounted for, according to Miami-Dade County officials.
Demolition teams bring down the unstable remainder of the Champlain Towers South condo building, late Sunday, July 4, 2021, in Surfside, Florida. (Associated Press)
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the demolition of the remaining portion of the building was a necessary step for crews to continue their search for any possible survivors of the disaster.
"Bringing down this building in a controlled manner is critical to expanding the scope of our search-and-rescue effort," Cava told reporters at a news conference, according to The Associated Press.
SURFSIDE MANAGER PUSHES BACK ON REPORTS OF DELAYED CONDO REPAIRS
Search crews will resume sifting through the rubble after the demolition as soon as they receive an "all clear" signal from site managers, the mayor said.
Cava and other officials have pledged that search efforts will continue in hopes of finding survivors even though the odds of finding anyone still alive after more than a week were not favorable.
This rescue effort, as far as I'm concerned, will go on until everybody is pulled out of that debris," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said earlier Sunday during an appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation."
Concerns had developed in recent days that the still-standing portion of the building was unsafe and could have endangered search crews as they worked at the site, the AP reported.
Sunday night's razing of the remaining portion will ultimately give search crews better access to other parts of the site, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told the AP.
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The demolition was handled by BG Group, a general contracting outfit in Delray, Florida, on a $935,000 contract from the state, according to the news agency.
Crews had planned to place the explosives in the basement and lobby levels of the structure, officials said prior to the blast, in a process called "energetic felling," the AP reported.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.