Miami building collapse: Rescuers search air pockets

A couple at the beach reacts near the partially collapsed residential building as the emergency crews continue search and rescue operations for survivors, in Surfside, near Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. June 26, 2021

Rescue workers are pinning their hopes on finding a “miracle” survivor in voids underneath the rubble of a Florida apartment building which collapsed five days ago.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Andy Alvarez said a “frantic effort” was underway to reach any air pockets where people could have survived.

No one has been pulled alive from the site since Thursday, when the building in Surfside, north of Miami, collapsed.

At least 11 people have died.

More than 150 people are still missing, and officials say they are refusing to give up hope.

“We’re going to continue and work ceaselessly to exhaust every possible option in our search,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told media. “The search-and-rescue operation continues.”

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Rescuers are searching through the rubble in sweltering heat and high humidity. Initial efforts were slowed by several fires in the debris.

US emergency crews have now been joined by teams from Israel and Mexico to help in the painstaking, round-the-clock operation. Machinery has moved large slabs, and a trench measuring 125ft (38m) long and 40ft deep has been built to help them reveal any potential air pockets in the wreckage of the 12-storey building.

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