RESCUE workers scouring the debris of a collapsed condo building in a Miami suburb said they heard sounds in the rubble overnight, as officials on Friday raised the number of people unaccounted for to 159 and the confirmed death toll to four.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters that three more bodies were pulled from the wreckage overnight.
Another person was reported to have died on Thursday. The mayor also said the number of presumed missing had increased from the 99 reported missing on Thursday, Reuters reports.
“I’m praying for a miracle,” Rachel Spiegel, whose mother Judy Spiegel is missing, told CNN on Friday.
The last time Spiegel communicated with her mom was Wednesday night, when her mother excitedly texted her that she had bought a dress online for Spiegel’s daughter, her granddaughter.
“Unfortunately, this has been a tragic night. We do have 120 people now accounted for, which is very, very good news. But our unaccounted for number has gone up to 159,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference.
“In addition, we can tragically report the death count is now four,” she said. “I want to be very clear about the numbers. They are very fluid. … The search-and-rescue team worked throughout the night, and it was a very active scene.”
Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said authorities were working with the medical examiner’s office to identify the victims. Eleven injuries were reported, with four people taken to local hospitals, according to New York Post.
Assistant Miami-Dade Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said Friday that rescue crews heard sounds, but not voices, from the rubble – though some of the sounds could be from shifting parts of the building’s twisted remains.
“We have hope, and every time that we hear a sound, we concentrate on that area … as we continue to hear those sounds, we concentrate on those areas,” he told reporters.
