The surviving part of the collapsed condominium in Surfside, Florida, was demolished with explosives on Sunday evening.
The explosion occurred after 22: 00-11 days after the shocking collapse of most of the Champlain Towers residential building on June 24, which killed at least 24 people. At the same time, 121 people are still missing, according to official data from Miami-Dade County.
According to AP, the mayor of the district, Daniella Levin Kava, said that the demolition of the remaining part of the building was necessary so that rescuers could continue searching for possible survivors.
«The controlled collapse of this building is critical to expanding the scope of our search and rescue efforts,» Kava told reporters at a press conference.
Watch: The remaining part of the Surfside condo that was still standing after last month’s collapse has been demolished over concerns the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below. Read more: https://t.co/rOMTXfUM4A pic.twitter.com/a6dkGOpyVd
— CBS4 Miami (@CBSMiami) July 5, 2021
In recent days, there have been fears that the structure is unstable and search teams working on the site may be in danger. The situation also worsened due to the approach of tropical storm Elsa, which was heading for Florida.
Kava and other officials promised that the search work will continue in the hope of finding survivors, even though the chances of finding anyone else alive after more than a week are low.
«This rescue operation, as far as I know, will continue until everyone is pulled out of the wreckage,» Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said earlier on Sunday.
