Bodies of two girls are found in the building rubble in Miami

• The bodies of two girls are found in the Miami building collapse.
• The girls were 10 and 4 years old and they were sisters.
• Rescue work continues at Champlain Towers South.

They rescue girls. More human remains emerged on Wednesday of the debris of the Champlain Towers South that collapsed in Florida, but this time among the dead were the first children, ages 4 and 10, reported the AP news agency and the portal CBS 12.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava made the announcement nearly a week after the property collapsed. After some preliminary remarks at a press conference, she took a deep breath to gain strength and turned to her notes. With a broken voice, she said that the revelation was accompanied by «great sorrow, real pain.»

«A TRAGEDY»

«Any life lost, especially given the unexpected and unprecedented nature of this event, is a tragedy,» he said. But the loss of children was an even greater burden, which «hit» the community hard.

Miami-Dade police later identified the girls as Lucía Guara, 10, and Emma Guara, 4. The remains of their father, Marcus Guara, 52, were pulled from the rubble Saturday and identified Monday. . The girls and their mother, Anaely Rodríguez, 42, were recovered Wednesday.

Girls Rescued: MORE CORPSES

Rescuers removed six more bodies from the rubble on Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to 18. It is the highest number of bodies recovered in a single day since the building collapsed last Thursday. The number of inhabitants of the condominium whose whereabouts is unknown is now 145.

Hours earlier, search crews built a ramp that would allow the use of heavy machinery, which could speed up the removal of concrete that «could lead to that incredibly good news,» state fire chief Jimmy Patronis said Wednesday.

They rescue girls: LABORES

Since the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Miami, rescuers have been working to remove layers of concrete without disturbing the unstable pile of debris to find people.

Miami-Dade Deputy Fire Chief Raide Jadallah informed family members Wednesday that a ramp built over the pile overnight allowed first responders to use a crane in sections they previously had no access to, and that this improves the chances of finding new holes in the search for survivors.

Girls Rescue: IMPROVEMENTS

“We hope to start to see some significant improvements in terms of the possibility of (finding) any gaps that we cannot see,” Jadallah said, on the actions to penetrate the mountain of rubble.

Patronis told The Associated Press that the ramp will allow heavy machinery to get closer to areas where debris must be removed. The new equipment includes a demolition cutter, a massive machine that has a scissor-like tool at the end of a long arm for cutting concrete and steel.

Girls Rescued: CONCERN

Officials were concerned that an underground parking garage could collapse under the weight of heavy machinery, so they decided to build the ramp out of limestone, Patronis said. He added that dogs are used to check for survivors in the area where the machinery works and then the demolition mower is dispatched.

«So you can really make serious and quick breakthroughs because of the hydraulic force that this team can exert compared to a human being with hand tools,» Patronis said.

CAUSE

The cause of the collapse is still being investigated. A 2018 engineering report found that the pool area on the building’s ground floor was on a concrete slab that had «serious structural damage» and was in need of extensive repairs. The report also found «extensive cracking» in concrete columns, cross members and walls in the parking lot.

Just two months before the property collapsed, the chairman of the condominium board wrote a letter to residents informing that the structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection «have significantly worsened» and that the repairs would cost at least $ 15.5 million. While the budget evaluation for the work was still pending, the building suddenly collapsed. Filed Under: Girls Rescued

RESIGNATION FORMER OFFICE

On the other hand, a former Florida municipal official who assured the board of owners that his building was in «very good condition» three years before the collapse was reported to have resigned from his new job, a city spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Rosendo Prieto has a leave of absence from his temporary employment with a contractor company that provides real estate services to the city of Doral, the municipal spokeswoman said in an email. Doral is about 20 miles west of Surfside, where the Champlain Towers South condo is located. Filed Under: Girls Rescued

ANTECEDENT

When he was a construction official at Surfside in 2018, Prieto told the Champlain Towers South board of owners that the property was in good shape. A month earlier, an engineering firm found serious structural deficiencies that required large and expensive works.

The Doral statement says Prieto worked until recently for CAP Government Inc., which provides real estate services to governments. That firm advised Doral that Prieto was on leave and that someone else would temporarily replace him. Filed Under: Girls Rescued

WITHOUT COMMUNICATION

It has not been possible to reach Prieto by phone or email since the Surfside building collapse last week. He quit his job at Surfside in November. At least 18 people were killed in the Champlain Towers South collapse, and more than 140 are still missing.

Charles Cyrille of the Miami-Dade County Office of Emergencies said 900 operatives from 50 federal, state and local agencies were working tirelessly on the search. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she will conduct a jury inquiry to examine the factors and decisions that led to Thursday’s tragedy. Filed Under: Girls Rescued

THEY ASK FOR HELP

Florida authorities asked the US federal government for an additional team of rescuers to join the search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed residential building, underscoring the grueling nature of the operation in an area prone to tropical weather.

The possibility that bad weather could further strain search and rescue resources in the coming days prompted state authorities to request reinforcements from Washington, Kevin Guthrie of the Florida Division of Emergency Management explained Tuesday. So far, intermittent bad weather has caused temporary search delays. Filed Under: Girls Rescued

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