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Death Toll in Surfside Condo Collapse Hits Staggering 78 People

Another 14 victims were found in the debris overnight.

Another 14 victims were found overnight in the rubble of the condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida, bringing the total number to a grim 78 people. That still leaves dozens of victims who have yet to be found since the Champlain Towers South condo came tumbling down on June 24, as many residents were still asleep in their beds. Excavators have been working around the clock, digging through endless piles of cement and steel to give families clarity on what happened to their loved ones. “We’re going to be doing it until we’re done. I can’t really predict a time,” Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez said. “What I can tell you is that... our officers are working 24 hours a day to bring closure to the families and then to go into that investigative phase with [the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology] as well as our state attorney. Our number one priority is to recover the victims.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Thursday that, at this point, finding survivors in the rubble “seems really outside of the realm of any human possibility.”