5 Dead, 156 Missing in US Florida Building Collapse

A total of 5 people are confirmed dead and another 156 people missing after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed early on Thursday in Miami-Dade County in southeastern US state Florida, local media reported on Friday. “Death toll in Florida building collapse climbs to 5,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told AFP. Cava also said crews struggling throughout the day in the debris also found other unspecified human remains.

Officials said the remains they find are being sent to the medical examiner, and they are also gathering DNA samples from family members to help identify them.

The Champlain Towers South condominium, built in 1981, partially collapsed around 1:30 a.m. local time on Thursday in the beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach.

About 70 of the condo’s 130 apartments were destroyed or damaged, according to Frank Rollason, director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management.

All the numbers are “fluid” because some residents may not have been in the building when it collapsed, the mayor said, noting that rescuers will “continue searching because we still have hope that we will find people alive.”