Florida condo collapse victims are becoming more difficult for search crews to identify, mayor says
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The death toll at the collapsed Champlain Towers South in Surfside has reached 94, officials announced Monday.
The Miami-Dade mayor said efforts to identify the deceased victims were becoming increasingly difficult.
First responders must now "rely heavily" on the local medical examiner, she said.
The death toll at the site of the collapsed Champlain Towers South in Surfside reached 94 on Monday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced at a press conference Monday.
Cava said 83 people have been identified and 80 next of kin have been notified.
"The police and the medical examiner teams are continuing their around-the-clock work to identify victims," Cava said. "However, the process of making identifications has become more difficult as time goes on."
"The recovery at this point is yielding human remains. At this step in the recovery process, we must rely heavily on the work of the medical examiner's office," she added.
The medical examiners were using technical and scientific processes to identify the remains, she said.
"The process is very methodical and careful, and it does take time," Cava added.
The South Florida condo building partially collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24. The remaining portion of the building was brought down in a controlled demolition on July 4 to avoid further collapse during the effort to search for victims.
Officials last week said the effort to find victims turned from search and rescue to search and recovery as the hope of finding living victims in the rubble diminished.
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