By Deirdre Tynan • Published: 05 Jul 2021 • 12:19
Surfside, Miami. Image: By Alexf - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
The remaining part of a semi-collapsed apartment block in Surfside, Miami, has been demolished over safety fears as a tropical storm approaches Florida. This Twitter video captured it live.
Late on July 4, explosives were used to demolish the last part of Champlain Towers South, a section of which suddenly collapsed on June 24. Twenty-four people are known to have died and 121 are missing.
#ChamplainTowersSouth controlled demolition for the part of the building that was still standing. Praying for the survivors, families, friends, neighbors and the crew working on site.#champlaintowers #surfside #miami #champlaintowerscollapse #SurfsideStrong pic.twitter.com/xRXuG0wj4u — Staying Awake (@NomasguerrasL) July 5, 2021
#ChamplainTowersSouth controlled demolition for the part of the building that was still standing. Praying for the survivors, families, friends, neighbors and the crew working on site.#champlaintowers #surfside #miami #champlaintowerscollapse #SurfsideStrong pic.twitter.com/xRXuG0wj4u
— Staying Awake (@NomasguerrasL) July 5, 2021
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the controlled implosion went “exactly as planned”.
“I feel relief because this building was unstable. The building was hampering our search efforts,” she said at a press conference.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the authorities are still operating a rescue effort.
“It is absolutely not a recovery effort. There is nobody in charge really talking about stopping this rescue effort. And this rescue effort, as far as I’m concerned, will go on until everybody is pulled out of that debris,” he told CBS.
“We want to make sure that we control which way the building falls and not a hurricane, so all of this together I think ended up being a good thing,” he added.
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Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.
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