死亡人数已经从部分上升到9人一栋12层公寓的倒塌建在冲浪区,佛罗里达州官员们说,随着大规模搜救任务持续到周日的第四天。
迈阿密戴德市长丹妮尔·莱文·卡瓦(Daniella Levine Cava)在周日上午的新闻发布会上说,周四凌晨1点30分左右,尚普兰塔南公寓(Champlain Towers South)的瓦砾中又发现了四具尸体,当时许多居民正在睡觉,该公寓发生了弯曲,并陷入了一场大灾难。超过150人仍然下落不明。
卡瓦说,还发现了更多的人类遗骸,需要进行DNA测试来鉴定这些遗骸。
迈阿密戴德县消防队长艾伦·科明斯基说,救援人员仍然希望在混凝土、扭曲的金属和个人物品堆的裂缝和空隙中找到等待救援的幸存者。
乔·雷德尔/盖蒂影像公司
南佛罗里达城市搜索和救援队的成员在p...
“希望。这就是我所关注的,”科明斯基说。“我们将继续尽最大努力,尽可能长时间地移动和搜索,直到我们做出决定。”
卡瓦说,自周四早上54岁的斯泰西·方(Stacie Fang)和她15岁的儿子被活着从废墟中救出以来,在大楼的残骸中没有发现幸存者。方后来在医院去世。
周日晚上,警方确认了四具尸体的身份,其中包括80岁的利昂·奥利克沃维奇;路易斯·贝尔穆德斯,26岁;安娜·奥尔蒂斯,46岁;克里斯蒂娜·比阿特丽斯·埃尔韦拉,74岁。
市长说,截至周日晚上,这座有40年历史的建筑的134名居民已经被找到。卡瓦敦促任何有失踪成员的家庭联系侦探,并提供DNA样本帮助鉴定。
“非常重要的是,如果你错过了你爱的人,你要报告,”她说。
周日下午2点刚过,仍下落不明者的亲属在一家建立了家庭团聚中心的酒店登上了几辆城市公交。他们被警察护送到倒塌建筑附近的一个区域,私下为他们失踪的亲人祈祷和守夜。
周日,在绝望的失踪人员亲人在周六晚上的一次私人简报会上与官员对峙,告诉他们“你做得还不够”,这是一个令人沮丧的消息。
根据美国广播公司新闻获得的一段手机视频,一名妇女在会上对佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯和其他政府官员说:“想象一下,如果你的孩子在里面会怎么样。”。
斯科特·麦金太尔/纽约时报
一名妇女看着那些被认为在南卡罗莱纳州尚普兰大厦倒塌中失踪的人的传单
“我知道你已经尽力了,但这还不够,”痛苦的女人补充道。“你给了我们一个承诺,但你没有兑现,你可以兑现。我女儿快死了。”
卡瓦市长说,消防队员设法控制了一场失控的大火,这场大火一直在瓦砾中燃烧,阻碍了救援工作。她说火灾在周六中午被控制住了。
她还说,紧急救援队在瓦砾中挖了一条125英尺长、20英尺宽、40英尺深的壕沟,以帮助加强搜索。
德桑蒂斯警告说,“许多主要的碎片”将很快被从现场移走,并转移到一个巨大的仓库。
乔·雷德尔/盖蒂影像公司
南佛罗里达城市搜索和救援队的成员在
德桑蒂斯说:“碎片确实有法医价值,所以一旦被取走,就会被分析。”。
卡瓦说,由大约300名第一反应人员组成的6到8个救援队一直在昼夜不停地在废墟中搜寻幸存者和遗骸。她说,数百名其他搜救队成员随时待命,在工人们从废墟上下来时营救他们。
冲浪市长查尔斯·伯克特说,以色列前线指挥部和一支来自墨西哥的救援队也加入了搜索。
乔治维耶拉/法新社通过盖蒂图像
以色列救援人员代表团成员抵达附近地区后聚集在一起
伯克特周日在会见仍下落不明的亲人时表示,其中一名亲属询问以色列小组是否认为迈阿密戴德救援队“做了正确的事情”。
“以色列队的指挥官毫不犹豫地转过身来说,‘他们一直在做完全正确的事情,’”伯克特说。
伯克特补充说,倒塌大楼旁边的居民已经被疏散,并被安置在酒店里。他说,附近尚普兰塔北楼的居民也可以选择疏散。
这场灾难也影响到邻近的迈阿密海滩社区,该社区于周日宣布进入紧急状态。
迈阿密海滩市在一份新闻稿中写道:“应急响应工作的很大一部分是在迈阿密海滩进行的,包括使用城市街道、财产和其他设施作为搜索和救援指挥中心。”他补充说,该声明将确保该市有资格获得联邦政府对紧急相关支出的报销。
冲浪城也宣布了类似的紧急状态。
坍塌的原因正在调查中。官员们说,倒塌时,该建筑正在进行翻修和屋顶工程。
Surfside市发布的2018年结构现场调查报告发现,混凝土结构板存在重大结构损坏,部分塔楼防水失效。
A新发布的电子邮件证实2018年,在一份工程报告发现该建筑存在“重大结构损坏”几周后,一名冲浪建筑部门的官员会见了尚普兰塔南的居民。
一名前居民声称,冲浪场建筑官员罗斯·彼尔托(Ross)在2018年表示,该建筑“状况不错”——这一观点似乎与五周前写的一份工程报告相冲突,该报告指出了严重的结构问题。噪声功率比(noise power ratio)首次报告官员对居民的评论。
根据该市周日晚些时候发布的文件,彼尔托后来在给当时的镇经理吉列尔莫·奥梅迪略的电子邮件中写道,会议“进行得非常顺利”。
“房间里每个人的反应都非常积极,”彼尔托写道。"他们四十年重新认证过程中的所有主要问题都得到了解决."
彼尔托继续说道:“这栋特殊的建筑到2021年才开始使用40年,但是他们已经决定尽早开始这个过程,我全心全意地支持这个过程,并希望这种趋势能在其他房产中流行起来。”。
彼尔托没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
周日下午,冲浪者镇发布了2018年至2019年间尚普兰大厦数百页的政府官员电子邮件,彼尔托的邮件是其中之一。
在一份日期为2019年1月的投诉中,公寓协会的一名成员写信给彼尔托,称他们“担心冲浪区旁边的建筑过于靠近”她写道,隔壁的建筑“挖得离我们的房产太近,我们担心我们的建筑结构”,并询问建筑官员是否可以过来检查。
对此,彼尔托写道,“我没什么可检查的,”他补充道,“最好的办法是派人监控围栏、游泳池和邻近区域的损坏情况,或者雇佣一名顾问来监控这些区域,因为它们离建筑最近。”
作为对该报告的回应,一名冲浪城专员告诉美国广播公司新闻:“当然,[2018年城镇建筑检查员]对该报告的解释是误导性的。"
“也许(检查员)真的相信他说的话,”专员埃利安娜·萨尔扎尔告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我不想相信有人会故意误导别人。”
冲浪市长查尔斯·W·伯克特(Charles W. Burkett)告诉记者,他确实读过2018年的报告,但他还不知道与居民的会面,官员称该建筑“状况良好”。伯克特说,他的办公室正在审查冲浪运动官员与该建筑的所有通信,这些细节将公布在政府网站上。
迈阿密戴德县委员会主席何塞·迪亚兹周日承诺,官员们将“以各种方式”调查发生的事情
“当我说这是我们现在必须决定的事情时,我是非常认真的,”迪亚兹告诉美国广播公司新闻。“有很多旧建筑(在迈阿密戴德),我们必须看看到底发生了什么。”
Surfside building collapse latest: Death toll climbs to 9, more victims identified
The death toll has climbed to nine from the partialcollapse of a 12-story condominiumbuilding in Surfside,Florida, as a massive search and rescue mission continued into its fourth day on Sunday, officials said.
Four more bodies were recovered overnight from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium that buckled and gave way into a pancaking catastrophe around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday as many residents were asleep, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference Sunday morning. More than 150 people remain unaccounted for.
Cava said additional human remains have also been recovered and DNA testing will be required to identify those remains.
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said rescuers are still hoping to find survivors waiting to be saved in crevices and voids in the pile of concrete, twisted metal and personal belongings.
"Hope. That's what I'm focused on," Cominsky said. "We're going to continue moving and searching as hard as we can and for as long as we can until we have to make that decision."
No survivors have been discovered in the wreckage of the building since early Thursday morning when Stacie Fang, 54, and her 15-year-old son were pulled from the debris alive, Cava said. Fang later died at a hospital.
Four of the bodies recovered were identified by police Sunday night, including Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; Luis Bermudez, 26; Anna Ortiz, 46; and Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74.
As of Sunday evening, 134 residents of the 40-year-old building have been accounted for, the mayor said. Cava urged any family that has a missing member to contact detectives and provide a DNA sample to help with identifications.
"It is very important that if you are missing a loved one, you report it," she said.
Just after 2 p.m. on Sunday, relatives of those still unaccounted for boarded several city transit buses at a hotel where a family reunification center has been established. They were escorted by police to an area near the site of the collapsed building to privately pray and hold vigils for their missing loved ones.
The grim news on Sunday came after desperate loved ones of people missing confronted officials at a private briefing Saturday night, telling them "you are not doing enough."
"Imagine if your children were in there," one woman told Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other government officials at the meeting, according to a cellphone video obtained by ABC News.
"I know you're doing everything you can, but it's not enough," the anguished woman added. "You gave us a promise and you're not fulfilling it, and you can fulfill it. My daughter is dying."
Mayor Cava said firefighters managed to contain an out-of-control blaze that had been burning deep in the rubble, hampering rescue efforts. She said the fire was contained around noon on Saturday.
She also said emergency teams have cut a 125-foot long, 20-foot wide and 40-foot deep trench through the rubble to help enhance the search.
DeSantis cautioned that "a lot of major debris" is soon going to be removed from the site and moved to a giant warehouse.
"The debris that gets out does have forensic value and so that's going to be parsed once it's taken," DeSantis said.
Cava said six to eight rescue squads comprised of about 300 first-responders have been sifting through the debris in shifts around the clock, searching for survivors and human remains. She said hundreds of other search and rescue team members were on standby to relieve workers as they come off the pile.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the Israeli Homefront Command Team and a rescue unit from Mexico have also joined the search.
Burkett said during a meeting Sunday with loved ones of those still unaccounted for, that one of the relatives asked if the Israeli team thought that the Miami-Dade rescuers "had been doing the right thing."
"The commander from the Israeli team did not hesitate and turned around and said, 'They've been doing exactly the right thing,'" Burkett said.
Burkett added that residents of the tower adjacent to the one that collapsed have been evacuated and put up in hotels. He said residents of the nearby Champlain Towers North building have also been given the choice to evacuate.
The disaster was also affecting the neighboring community of Miami Beach, which declared a state of emergency on Sunday.
"A significant portion of the staging for the emergency response efforts is taking place within Miami Beach, including use of city streets, property and other facilities for search and rescue command centers," the city of Miami Beach wrote in a press release, adding that the declaration will ensure the city's eligibility for federal reimbursement of emergency-related expenditures.
The city of Surfside also has also declared a similar state of emergency.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation. The building had been undergoing renovations and roof work at the time of the collapse, officials said.
A 2018 Structural Field Survey report released by the city of Surfside found major structural damage to concrete structural slabs and failed waterproofing in parts of the tower.
Anewly released emailconfirms that a Surfside Building Department official met with Champlain Towers South residents in 2018, just weeks after an engineering report identified “significant structural damage” to the building.
One former resident claimed that Ross Prieto, a Surfside building official, said in 2018 that the building was "not in bad shape” -- a sentiment that appears to conflict with an engineering report penned five weeks earlier that noted serious structural concerns. NPRfirst reportedthe official's comments to residents.
Prieto later wrote in an email to then-Town Manager Guillermo Olmedillo that the meeting “went very well,” according to documents released by the city late Sunday.
“The response was very positive from everyone in the room,” Prieto wrote. “All main concerns over their forty year recertification process were addressed.”
“This particular building is not due to begin their forty year until 2021 but they have decided to start the process early which I wholeheartedly endorse and wish that this trend would catch on with other properties,” Prieto continued.
Prieto has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Prieto’s email was among hundreds of pages of public officials’ emails on the Champlain Towers between 2018 and 2019, released by the town of Surfside Sunday afternoon.
In one complaint dated in January 2019, a member of the condo association wrote to Prieto saying they are “concerned that the construction next to Surfside is too close.” She wrote that the construction next door is “digging too close to our property and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building” and asked if a building official could come by and check.
Prieto, in response, wrote, “There’s nothing for me to check,” adding, “The best course of action is to have someone monitor the fence, pool and adjacent areas for damage or hire a consultant to monitor these areas as they are the closest to the construction.”
In response to the report, a Surfside town commissioner told ABC News that: “Certainly, [the 2018 town building inspector]’s interpretation of that report was misleading.”
“Maybe [the inspector] really believed what he said,” Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told ABC News. “I don't want to believe that some would go out of their way to mislead someone."
Surfside Mayor Charles W. Burkett told reporters he did read the 2018 report but he was not yet aware of the meeting with the residents where the official said the building was "not in a bad shape." Burkett said his office is going through every correspondence Surfside officials have made with the building and those details will be posted on the government's website.
Jose Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission, promised on Sunday that officials will look at what happened in "every single way."
"I'm very serious when I'm saying that this is something that we now have to determine," Diaz told ABC News. "There's a lot of older buildings (in Miami-Dade), and we've got to see what actually took place."