Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava CNN
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told CNN that she is holding out hope that survivors will be rescued from the rubble at the collapsed Champlain Towers Condo site.
"I am holding out hope because our first responders tell me they have hope," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room Friday. "They are the ones on the ground. They are in the tunnels, they're in the water, they're on top of the rubble pile. They're helping to sift through using the cameras, the dogs the sonar and they say they have hope."
The mayor said the crews at the scene have made rescues all over the world, sometimes finding survivors alive after a week.
"They're in there. They're searching round the clock, through the rain through a fire, through the night in 12-hour shifts," she said, "So I have hope."
Levine Cava said the death toll remains at four and 159 people are still unaccounted for.
The priority right now is search and rescue, but engineers are on scene monitoring the building to make sure it doesn't collapse further or move and injure rescuers, the mayor said.
She told CNN that the rubble pile did get displaced at one point, but no one was injured.
"I just cannot tell you the admiration and respect I have for these fine men and women. And they are eager, they are motivated to get in there," Levine Cava said of the search and rescue crews. "They are there to get it done. They are determined."
Investigators will work to understand what happened in the collapse and review the 40-year certification requirements, Levine Cava said.
"Clearly we have lessons to learn from this and we will apply those lessons," she said. "We're focused right now on the immediate search and rescue. We can spare no effort to be sure that we can save as many lives as possible."
The mayor said she is thankful for the outpouring of support they have received from different cities and are providing hotels, food, counseling, and other resources for the families of those impacted by the collapse.
MattTheFlash on June 25th, 2021 at 15:35 UTC »
For comparison, one of the most well-known structural failures resulting in massive loss of life was the Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway Collapse in 1981. That was 114 deaths. That's how big this is.
cheesepuff311 on June 25th, 2021 at 14:30 UTC »
The official death count has risen to four. Although I’m sure it’ll be much higher when this is all over with. I hope they are still able to find survivors.
StumbleDog on June 25th, 2021 at 12:59 UTC »
The video of it collapsing is shocking, I don't see how anyone could have survived that. The rubble is just dust. Horrific.