Official Death Toll Climbs To 11: The Latest On The Condo Collapse In Surfside

Enlarge this image

Two men console each other on the beach Sunday near the site of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla. Rescuers kept digging through the mound of rubble over the weekend, clinging to hope that someone could be found alive.

Marta Lavandier/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Marta Lavandier/AP

Enlarge this image

A man hangs a photo of a missing person on a fence near the site of the oceanfront condo building that partially collapsed in Surfside, Fla.

Gerald Herbert/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Gerald Herbert/AP

Live Updates: Miami-Area Condo Collapse
What We Know About The Victims Of The Champlain Towers Collapse

Families of the known victims had the opportunity to privately visit the site on Sunday, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

She urged family members who have not yet filed a missing persons report to talk to a detective and to have their DNA taken so that police can match that information with any remains found.

«This will be critically important for our identification, she said at a press conference.

Levine Cava said detectives still haven’t been able to reach the families of all people missing in the collapse.

Structural problems were a known issue

Enlarge this image

Rescue workers search in the rubble Saturday at the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla. The building partially collapsed on Thursday.

Lynne Sladky/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Lynne Sladky/AP

Live Updates: Miami-Area Condo Collapse
Surfside Official Told Residents Their Building Was Safe, Despite Engineer’s Warning

Minutes of a November 2018 meeting showed that Surfside’s town inspector, Ross Prieto, was there to discuss the report.

Local officials told reporters Saturday that they knew nothing about the report before its release over the weekend.

Work will continue through the week

Enlarge this image

Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo on Sunday in Surfside, Fla. Many people are still unaccounted for after Thursday’s fatal collapse.

Wilfredo Lee/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo on Sunday in Surfside, Fla. Many people are still unaccounted for after Thursday’s fatal collapse.

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Some residents voluntarily evacuated from the remainder of the condo building, but currently there is no mandatory evacuation in place.

Tina Paul, vice mayor of Surfside, Fla., spoke with NPR’s All Things Considered on Sunday and said an investigation has been opened into what might have caused the Champlain Towers South building to collapse.

Rescuers will continue to work through the rubble, but responders have said they have not heard anymore sounds amid the wreckage that might indicate there are people still alive and trapped in it.

But, Mayor Levine Cava said, «we continue to have hope.