The bodies of four more victims have been found in the wreckage of Champlain Towers South, Miami-Dade fire officials announced.
This brings the known death toll of the building’s collapse to 16, with 149 people still missing.
The search for survivors is now in its seventh day. Authorities said the four new bodies were recovered from the rubble overnight, along with other human remains.
Rescue officials say they have managed to build an important new tool for their search: a ramp that will bring cranes and other construction vehicles to the top of the rubble pile, which they were unable to access before.
“Now you are able to leverage massive equipment to remove mass pieces of concrete that could lead to those incredible good news events,” State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis told WSVN.
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Meanwhile, one of the dead has been identified as Hilda Noriega, the 92-year-old mother of North Bay Village police chief Carlos Noriega. The Noriega family announced her death in a statement.
“The Noriegas have lost the ‘heart and soul’ and ‘matriarch’ of their family, but will get through this time by embracing the unconditional love Hilda was known for,” the family said. “The family has asked for privacy as they deal with this horrific and painful loss.”
Ms Noriega had lived on the sixth floor of the building, which suddenly collapsed at about 1.30am on 24 June. Her family had held out hope that she somehow survived, especially after they found a photograph and birthday card of hers in the building’s debris.
“There was a message in the mess of all this,” her grandson, Mike Noriega, said on Monday after he and his father found the mementos. “It means not to give up hope. To have faith.”
He described his grandmother as independent and energetic – “the youngest 92-year-old I know... 92 going on 62.”
Even as hope fades for some families, officials say the rescue effort will continue.
“Nobody is stopping,” Mr Patronis said.
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