‘Half the building’s not there’: 911 calls reveal confusion after Surfside collapse
Dozens of calls from relatives of residents of Champlain Towers South during the collapse of the condo in Surfside, Miami, last month have have been heard for the first time.
In more than two dozen calls to 911 dispatchers from the Miami Police Department released on Wednesday, confusion and disbelief can be heard in the voices of relatives and residents.
One caller, according to CNN, told a 911 that her sister was resident of the 12-story block, but “half of the building’s not there anymore”, and that her sister could not escape.
"I don't know if something happened to it but half of the buildings not there anymore," the caller told 911. "They can't get out because there's no building on the other side of their apartment."
That call was thought to have come-in as the first images of Champlain Towers South were shared to social media in the early hours of 24 June, after the 12-story residential block collapsed almost in half.
Officials on Tuesday confirmed that 95 individuals had died in the collapse, after another body was found in the rubble overnight.
As many as 85 have been identified so far, and a further 14 people remain unaccounted for.
Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, said on Wednesday: "The process of making identifications has become more difficult as time goes on”, with most of the site levelled after it turned into a recovery operation last week.
"We must rely heavily on the work of the medical examiner's office ... to identify human remains. The process is very methodical and it's careful and it does take time," Ms Cava added.
In another 911 call released on Wednesday, dispatchers were told: “It seems like something underground, everything exploded”.
Another added: "I know the police are here already. Can somebody help me get out please? I was able to escape, but I'm outside in the parking lot. If the building comes down, it will come down on my head."
The latest victim of the collapse was named as Luis F Barth Tobar, aged 51, whose body was found on 19 July, according to Miami-Dade police.
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