Four more bodies were found today in the wreckage of an apartment building that collapsed in Florida, thus increasing the death toll to 32, with search and rescue forces preparing for the passage of tropical storm “Elsa”.
At the same time, relatives of members of a family of four who lost their lives in the tragedy are preparing for the first funeral of one of the worst civil disasters in US history.
A total of 113 people are still missing, 12 days after the collapse of most of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside.
Rescuers have expanded their search following the controlled demolition of the remaining building Sunday night.
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The first funeral of the victims of the disaster will take place later today. Marcus Guarara, 52, his wife, Ana Guara, 42, and their daughters, Lucia, 10, and Emma, 4, will be buried. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm (local time) and 9:30 pm Greek time, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Miami Beach.
Although the Surfside area is forecast to avoid the worst of Tropical Storm Elsa, sporadic rains and thunderstorms are expected in the area that could hamper research operations.
Only one of the occupants of the apartment building – a teenager – was pulled alive from the rubble in the first hours after the disaster. Since then, despite the mobilization of rescue teams from the US, Israel and Mexico, only corpses have been retrieved.
Yesterday, the head of Israel’s special search and rescue unit, which is operating on the ground, said that the chances of finding survivors in the rubble are now “almost zero”.
