Newsman: President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Florida on Thursday to view firsthand the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium.
The death toll from the collapse of a Florida condominium tower has risen to 18 after the bodies of two children were pulled from the rubble on Wednesday.
“It is also with great sorrow, real pain, that I have to share with you that two of these were children, aged 4 and 10,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a briefing.
“So any loss of life, especially given the unexpected, unprecedented nature of this event, is a tragedy,” Cava said. “But the loss of our children is too great to bear.”
Seven days after the waterfront tower collapsed, there are still 145 people unaccounted for, the mayor said.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Eddy Alarcon said the never lost hope. ‘Miracle happens’ he said in an emotional interview with CNN’s John Barman.
“I can tell you that none of us have lost hope,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Eddy Alarcon said. “We’ll march up to that pile and start hammering away and cutting away in hopes that we can find somebody… We’re always praying for somebody to be alive, but at the very least it gives some closure to the families waiting to hear from their loved ones.”
Search and Rescue teams look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 29, in Surfside, Florida. Rescue teams are entering their seventh day searching the rubble of a collapsed building in Surfside, Florida – still holding out hope they will find the 149 people unaccounted for.
When Asked by reporters if he planned to visit Surfside, Fla., President Joe Biden said, “Yes, I hope so, as soon as we can; Maybe as early as Thursday.” The White House issued a formal announcement of the trip shortly afterward.
The condo building, Champlain Towers South, partially collapsed in the middle of the night Thursday as many residents slept. Currently, and 12 have been confirmed dead.
The Biden administration has responded to the disaster, dispatching Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell to the scene this week.
“[The agency] has deployed an Incident Management Assistance Team as well as building science experts, structural engineers and geotechnical experts to support search-and-rescue operations, and a mobile command center,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday
