Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

4 Dead, 159 Unaccounted for after Florida Condo Building Collapse


Sat 26 Jun 2021 | 01:20 PM
Omnia Ahmed

Search and rescue crews are continuing to work around the clock to find as many as 159 people who are unaccounted for after the collapse of a condo tower, in Florida, that killed at least four people.

Florida Condo Building Collapse

The death toll rose to four after the remains of three people were pulled from the rubble overnight. Meanwhile, the cause of the building collapse remained unknown.

On his part, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said: "We have to figure out: Why did this happen?"

Florida Condo Building Collapse

"That answer isn't necessarily apparent right now, but it will be identified," he said. "And I think that anyone who was affected by this directly wants that answer, but also, we need to know: Is this a bigger issue or is this something unique to the building?"

Notably, the tower was built 41 years ago on reclaimed wetlands.

Florida Condo Building Collapse

In the same vein, town Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told the Miami Herald that a resident of the building told her it was "shaking" during construction over the past few years in the building next door.

The lawyer for the building's condo association, Ken Direktor, told CBS Miami it was undergoing a required 40-year recertification.

Nevertheless, Direktor noted that "nothing appeared either to the engineers or to any of the residents that suggests anything like this was imminent. Nothing."