Death toll following Surfside condo collapse reaches 64

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (D) said Thursday evening that the number of people confirmed dead following the Surfside condo collapse stands at 64 after four additional victims were found.

Earlier on Thursday, Cava had said the number of confirmed deaths stood at 60 people.

The number of people unaccounted for now stands at 76, down from more than 150 last week.

Cava said some of the families who had lost members in the collapse were able to visit the site Thursday at their request.

“We held a moment of silence with our first responders. They paused their work on the pile, briefly, to honor the victims and their families, and they received an aerial salute by the Miami-Dade County Police Department,” Cava said.

Alan R. Cominsky, chief of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, said he did not have a specific time frame for the recovery yet.

“We don’t have an exact specific time frame yet. You know, we are expecting the progress to move at a faster pace with our recovery efforts. But there’s also a search component as well,” Cominsky said.

On Wednesday evening, Cava had confirmed that search and rescue efforts would transition to recovery efforts starting at midnight Thursday. 

“The announcement today comes as a result of a consensus by those closest to the rescue efforts that the possibility of someone still alive is near zero,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said Wednesday regarding the decision.

Updated at 6:32 p.m.