Jul 24, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Firefighters end search for bodies at Surfside

Surfside memorial

A picture in the memorial that has photographs of some of the victims from the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 15 in Surfside, Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Firefighters on Friday concluded their search for bodies at the site of the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida.

Driving the news: 97 people were killed and one woman, Estelle Hedaya, remains missing.

  • "They’re closing the support room, there’s nothing left, it’s finished," Hedaya's best friend, Lisa Shrem, told the Washington Post. "The site is even cleared below the foundation, so I feel like it’s, ‘Okay, close the book.’ What could be worse than that?"
  • Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a July 14 briefing that the remains found at that point could no longer be visually identified, per NPR.
  • "As we've said, this work is becoming more difficult with the passage of time," Levine Cava said, according to NPR.
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