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u.s. news Diasabra 24 Juli 2021
Search for bodies concludes at Florida condo collapse site

(AP) — Firefighters on The repairs did not hap- Then, in an instant, a sec-
Friday declared the end pen, and the estimate grew tion of the L-shaped build-
of their search for bodies to $15 million this year as ing fell straight down. Eight
at the site of a collapsed the owners of the building’s seconds later, another section
Florida condo building, 136 units and its governing followed, leaving 35 people
concluding a month of condo board squabbled over alive in the standing portion.
painstaking work remov- the cost, especially after a In the initial hours, a teen
ing layers of dangerous Surfside town inspector told was rescued, and firefight-
debris that were once them the building was safe. ers believed others might be
piled several stories high. found alive. They took hope
A complete collapse was all from noises emanating from
The June 24 collapse at the but impossible to imagine. As inside the pile that might
oceanside tower killed 97 many officials said in the ca- have been survivors tapping,
people, with at least one tastrophe’s first days, build- but in retrospect the sounds
more missing person yet to ings of that size do not just came from shifting debris.
be identified. The site has collapse in the U.S. outside
been mostly swept flat and Alan Cominsky saluted the told The Associated Press on of a terrorist attack. Even tor- Rescue crews worked tire-
the rubble moved to a Mi- firefighters who worked 12- Friday. He said he gets fre- nadoes, hurricanes and earth- lessly, even when smoke and
ami warehouse. Although hour shifts while camping quent updates from the med- quakes rarely bring them heat from a fire inside the
forensic scientists are still at out at the site. ical examiner’s office. down. building’s standing portion
work, including examining hampered their efforts. They
the debris at the warehouse, “It’s obviously devastat- Leah Sutton, who knew He- The disaster was one of the persisted when the tempera-
there are no more bodies to ing. It’s obviously a difficult daya since birth and consid- nation’s deadliest engineer- tures pushed into the upper
be found where the building situation across the board,” ered herself a second mother ing failures. A set of overhead 90s (35 Celsius) under the
once stood. Cominsky said. “I couldn’t to her, is worried that she will walkways collapsed at a Kan- blazing sun, some toiling
be prouder of the men and be forgotten. sas City hotel in 1981, killing until they needed IVs to re-
Except during the early hours women that represent Mi- 114 people attending a dance. plenish fluids. They carried
after the collapse, survivors ami-Dade Fire Rescue.” “They seem to be packing up But that wasn’t the structure on when Tropical Storm Elsa
never emerged. Search teams and congratulating everyone itself. A Washington, D.C., passed nearby and dumped
spent weeks battling the haz- Officials have declined to on a job well done. And yes, movie theater collapsed in torrential rain. They left the
ards of the rubble, including clarify whether they have one they deserve all the accolades, 1922, killing 98. But that pile only when lightning de-
an unstable portion of the additional set of human re- but after they find Estelle.” came after a blizzard dumped veloped.
building that teetered above, mains in hand that patholo- feet of snow on the flat roof.
a recurring fire and Florida’s gists are struggling to identify The collapse also fueled a The portion of the build-
stifling summer heat and or whether a search for that race to inspect other aging In the weeks after the col- ing that remained standing
thunderstorms. They went final set of remains contin- residential towers in Florida lapse, a 28-story courthouse posed another grave threat as
through more than 14,000 ues. and beyond, and it raised in downtown Miami, built it loomed precariously above
tons (13,000 metric tonnes) broader questions about the in 1928, and two apartment the workers. Authorities or-
of broken concrete and rebar, If found, Estelle Hedaya nation’s regulations govern- buildings were closed after dered it demolished on July
often working boulder by would bring the death toll to ing condominium associa- inspectors uncovered struc- 4.
bounder, rock by rock, before 98. tions and building safety. tural problems. They will
finally declaring the mission remain shut until repairs are In the end, crews found no
complete. Hedaya was an outgoing Shortly after the collapse, made. evidence that anyone who
54-year-old who loved to it became clear that warn- was found dead had survived
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s travel and was fond of strik- ings about Champlain Tow- The first calls to 911 came at the initial collapse, Comin-
urban search-and-rescue ing up conversations with ers South, which opened in about 1:20 a.m., when Cham- sky said.
team pulled away from the strangers. Her younger 1981, had gone unheeded. A plain residents reported that
disaster site Friday in a con- brother Ikey has given DNA 2018 engineering report de- the parking garage had col- The dead included members
voy of firetrucks and other samples and visited the site tailed cracked and degraded lapsed. A woman standing on of the area’s large Orthodox
vehicles, slowly driving to twice to see the search efforts concrete support beams in her balcony called her hus- Jewish community, the sis-
their headquarters for a news for himself. the underground parking ga- band, who was on a business ter of Paraguay’s first lady,
conference to announce that rage and other problems that trip, and said the swimming her family and their nanny,
the search was officially over. “As we enter month two would cost nearly $10 mil- pool had fallen into the ga- as well as a local salesman,
alone, without any other lion to fix. rage. his wife and their two young
At a ceremony, Fire Chief families, we feel helpless,” he daughters.
Trump inaugural committee chair to be released on $250M bail

(AP) — The chair of for- was president. a.m. curfew. plea in the case, but a spokes-
mer President Donald man said he would plead not
Trump’s inaugural com- Barrack, who founded the Barrack is charged with con- guilty.
mittee who faces charges private equity firm Colony spiracy, obstruction of justice
he secretly worked as an Capital, used his long per- and making multiple false Barrack is one of several of
agent for the the United sonal friendship with Trump statements during a June the former president’s associ-
Arab Emirates to influ- to benefit the UAE without 2019 interview with federal ates to face criminal charges,
ence Trump’s foreign pol- disclosing his ties to the U.S. agents. Matthew Grimes, 27, including his former cam-
icy was ordered released government, prosecutors a former executive at Bar- paign chair, his former depu-
from jail Friday on $250 said. rack’s company from Aspen, ty campaign chair, his former
million bail. Colorado, and Rashid al Ma- chief strategist, his former
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patri- lik, 43, a businessman from national security adviser, his
Tom Barrack, 74, who was cia Donahue in Los Angeles the United Arab Emirates former personal lawyer and numerous foreign officials
arrested Tuesday in Los An- federal court ordered strict who prosecutors said acted as his company’s longtime chief and businesspeople looking
geles near where he lives, was conditions for Barrack’s re- a conduit to that nation’s rul- financial officer. to lobby the new administra-
among three men charged in lease. He must surrender ers were also charged in the tion.
federal court in Brooklyn, passports, wear a GPS-mon- seven-count indictment. Barrack raised $107 million
New York, with conspiring to itor to track his whereabouts, for Trump’s inaugural cel- Barrack and Grimes were or-
influence U.S. policy on the limit travel between South- Grimes was ordered released ebration, which was scru- dered to appear Monday in a
UAE’s behalf during Trump’s ern California and New York on $5 million bail. tinized both for its lavish Brooklyn federal court for ar-
2016 campaign and while he City and obey a 10 p.m. to 6 Barrack has not entered a spending and for attracting raignment.