Florida Officials End Search for Survivors in Condo Collapse, Shift to Recovery

Emergency workers gave up Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in a collapsed Florida condo building, telling sobbing families that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains.

The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who said they sought to prepare families for the worst.

“At this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search-and-rescue mission,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference.

Eight more bodies were recovered from the site, bringing the death toll to 54, the mayor said. Thirty-three of the dead have been identified, and 86 people are still unaccounted for.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a private briefing that crews would stop using rescue dogs and listening devices but would continue to search for remains.

“Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure,” he said, as relatives cried in the background.

For two weeks, rescue crews have looked for spaces in the rubble large enough to harbor survivors.

But they now say the likelihood of finding anyone alive is almost nil.

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