The search for victims of the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condominium reached its 14th day today, with the death toll at three dozen, more than 100 people still unaccounted for and authorities sounding more and more grim.
Crews on Tuesday dug through pulverised concrete where the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside once stood, filling buckets that were passed down a line to be emptied and then returned.
The up-close look at the search, compliments of video released by the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department, came as eight more deaths were announced — the most for a single day since the search began. It also came as rain and wind from now Hurricane Elsa disrupted the effort, though the storm was on track to make landfall far across the state.
"Right now, we're in search and rescue mode," the county's police director, Freddy Ramirez, said at a news conference on Tuesday evening. He soon added: "Our primary goal right now is to bring closure to the families."
![A memorial for the Guara family is posted on a fence near the Champlain Towers South. Photo / AP](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/SXVNDT5S3SFDIMMDA6JHVMH5H4.jpg?auth=2f3987e1c657bd92d73e1054d3f4df3af261b31bf808b4a91e565ada28aaaff9&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)