A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue official told the families of those still missing after the condo collapse in Surfside, Fla. that there’s “zero chance of survival” on Wednesday as crews shifted from rescue to recovery efforts.
“Just based on the facts, there’s zero chance of survival,” Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah told families of the missing in a private briefing, according to the New York Times.
The shift comes nearly two weeks after the building collapsed, on June 24. While there had been no sign of survivors in the hours immediately after the collapse, officials had repeatedly vowed to keep searching as long as any chance of rescue remained.
The search was undertaken by rescue teams that came from all across the state, as well as Texas, Israel, and Mexico.
“When somebody is missing in action in the military, you’re missing until you’re found, and we don’t stop the search,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on June 29.
However, the rescue search ended on Wednesday afternoon, when Jadallah told families that search teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Israel agreed with the decision to transition to a search and recovery operation.
“We need to bring closure,” Jadallah said.
After the collapse, officials said four people had died and 159 people were missing. By Wednesday, the death toll stood at 46, with 94 people missing.
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