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Death toll rises to 27 as search resumes at Miami-area condominium collapse

05 July 2021 20:24 (UTC +04:00)

Three more bodies were found in the debris of a partially collapsed Miami-area condominium on Monday, bringing the total confirmed dead to 27, after the remaining parts of the complex were demolished overnight.

The bodies were found after suspended search-and-rescue efforts resumed following the managed demolition of the remaining part of Champlain Towers South complex in Surfside, where many remain missing, authorities told Reuters.

At about 10:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, explosives brought down the rest of the partially collapsed 12-story building in Surfside that initially crumbled on June 24.

Video footage of the managed implosion showed the structure falling and throwing up plumes of smoke. Using a method called "energetic felling," crews employed small, strategically placed small explosives and relied on gravity to bring down the building in place, said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Search-and-rescue efforts had been called off during the demolition. Those efforts will resume as soon as it is deemed safe, Cava told reporters earlier on Sunday.