Emergency workers gave up on Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in a collapsed Florida condo building and told the families that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains, The Associated Press reports.
The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who said they sought to prepare families for the worst.
Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a private briefing Wednesday afternoon that crews would stop using rescue dogs and listening devices but would continue to search for remains.
“Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure,” he said, adding, “We noticed the stress, the force of the pressure of the walls and the floors just pretty much again sustained no chance of life.”
As of Wednesday evening, the death toll stood at 54 after eight more bodies were recovered from the site.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference that 33 of the dead have been identified and 86 people are still unaccounted for after the disaster.
No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story Champlain Towers South building fell on June 24.
The search resumed on Monday, hours after the remaining sections of the building were brought down in a controlled explosion, ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa which authorities had feared could have caused the remnants of the structure to fall on search and rescue teams.
Authorities are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse and at least six lawsuits have been filed by Champlain Towers families, according to AP.