Surfside building collapse death toll rises to 78

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (D) said Friday that the number of confirmed deaths following the Surfside condo collapse now stands at 78 after 14 more victims were found.

“This is a staggering and heartbreaking number that affects all of us very, very deeply,” Cava said.

Search crews at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside have recovered 14 additional victims, bringing the total number of deaths to 78. pic.twitter.com/3ZcAzEsXCe

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 9, 2021

The number of people potentially unaccounted for stands at 62, while 200 people have been accounted for so far.

Cava noted that Broward County’s Medical Examiner office started working on site with the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office on Friday as a way to allow some of the Miami-Dade team to take a break and rotate out. 

She also said that more than 13 million pounds of concrete and debris have now been removed.

“I spent a good amount of time this morning at the collapse site, and we want to report that the pile that originally was approximately four or five stories is now almost at ground level,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said during the briefing.

“So the progress that our search and rescue teams are making is really incredible. And as a matter of fact in some areas I believe it’s below ground level in areas where it was almost four or five stories tall,” he added.

Earlier this week, Florida officials had confirmed that search and rescue efforts would transition into recovery efforts starting at midnight Thursday.

“The announcement today comes as a result of a consensus by those closest to the rescue efforts that the possibility of someone still alive is near zero,” Burkett said Wednesday.