Fourteen Days On, No Signs of Life under Rubble of Florida Condominium

By Staff, Agencies

Fourteen days after a seaside condominium tower collapsed just north of Miami, rescuers said their mission was no longer one of rescue, but had shifted to recovery. There were no survivors.

So far, authorities say they have recovered 54 bodies. Another 86 people remain missing and feared dead. There is no immediate explanation for the building's collapse, though investigations are focusing on a 2018 engineering report that warned of structural deficiencies.

The building fell so forcefully that rescuers could find no "voids" or pockets where people might survive for days - as has happened in some other cases around the world, where structures were felled by earthquakes or hurricanes.

Fire officials said on Wednesday that one section on the north side of the collapsed building saw four floors - normally representing at least 40 feet of vertical space - pancake into just three feet, crushing everyone and everything in between.

Not once has a rescue dog sounded an alert that a survivor was under the massive heap of concrete and rebar. Not once, fire department officials said on Wednesday, has their sensitive equipment detected any sign of life.

All search and rescue operators who were working the site left the rubble Wednesday night and gathered together for a moment of silence. Those gathered looked exhausted. Few shed tears or betrayed any emotion. They stared resolutely at the pile of concrete and twisted rebar before them, appearing ready to get back to work.