The body of a 7-year-old girl and daughter of a Miami firefighter was recovered from the collapsed condo rubble in Surfside, Florida, on Thursday evening. The girl’s father, along with hundreds of others, had previously helped the search and rescue efforts, according to officials, reports the Associated Press.
“Our first responders have been hard at work, as they have been this entire time, continuing to search through the pile that is accessible to them, and last night we did discover two additional victims,” said Miami Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
The discovery of the girl, whose identity has not been revealed, made the search and rescue efforts particularly difficult for teams on the ground Thursday evening, said Cava.
“These men and women are paying an enormous human toll each and every day, and I ask that all of you, please keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers,” she said. “They truly represent the very best in all of us, and we need to be there for them.”
As of Friday morning, 188 people have been accounted for, but 128 people remain unaccounted for. Furthermore, 20 people have been confirmed dead by local authorities. The collapse remains under investigation, and Cava has declined to speculate on what may have caused it.
Although rescuers have been searching for more than a week, no one has been found alive since the early hours after the collapse last week, according to the Associated Press. During the first hours after the collapse, a group of rescuers focused their efforts on trying to save a woman who could be heard calling for help from the lower levels of the rubble, reportedly from the garage area of the building.
According to Local News 10, the woman was heard saying, “I’m here, get me out. Get me out,” according to a rescue worker, who purportedly spoke to the news agency on the condition of anonymity.
But with a wall of concrete and metal blocking their way, rescuer workers were unable to reach her in time.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, get this lady out and comfort her,” said the worker, also adding that “she was asking for help and she was pleading to be taken out of there.”
“We were continuously talking to her … ‘Honey, we got you. We’re going to get to you,’” said the source, reports Local News 10.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said Thursday that rescuers “heard audible sounds” from underneath the structure. “They were searching for — a female voice is what we heard for several hours — and eventually we didn’t hear her voice anymore. We continued searching,” said Cominsky.
He said everyone has been “trying to do the best we can in these heroic efforts,” but noted that they were unsuccessful in saving that woman’s life.