Florida condo collapse scene transitions to search and recovery
Fox News correspondent Phil Keating discusses the Surfside recovery effort on ‘Special Report’
The Miami-Dade Police Department announced Saturday afternoon that an additional victim in the tragic Surfside building collapse has been identified, bringing the total to 95 identified victims out of 97 people who have been confirmed dead.
Theresa Velasquez, 36, was identified Saturday after her remains were found in the rubble on July 8, authorities said.
A music executive at Live Nation in Los Angeles, Velasquez arrived in south Florida to visit her parents just hours before the 12-story Champlain Towers South building, where her parents lived on the third floor, suddenly collapsed on June 26, the Miami Herald reports.
The search and rescue effort transitioned to a recovery operation recently after officials determined that there was no longer any hope of finding survivors.
CONDO COLLAPSE FIRST RESPONDERS, VICTIMS' FAMILIES VISITED BY COMFORT DOGS
"At this step in the recovery process it has become increasingly difficult to identify victims, and we are relying heavily on the work of the medical examiner’s office and the scientific, technical process of identifying human remains," Miami-Dade County officials said in an update Friday.
"This work becomes more difficult with the passage of time although our teams are working as hard and as fast as they can."
Only a few people are still considered missing, or "potentially unaccounted for," according to officials.
SURFSIDE, FLORIDA - JULY 09: A rescue worker guides an excavator to dig through the remains from the collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 09, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
While investigators work to identify the remains of two more people who have been found, Sergio Lozano told Fox-affiliate WSVN that his parents, who died in the collapse, have been the victims of identity theft and fraud.
"I find it totally devastating, after losing my parents, that I have to deal with all the estate issues, and now I’m having to deal with somebody stealing from my parents," Lozana told the news outlet.
"The day of their funeral, they began to process [the account], and after they’re dead and buried, they’re stealing from them? … It’s just wrong, just wrong."
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The cause of the collapse has not yet been revealed, though there were warning signs that the 40-year-old building had serious structural problems in the years preceding the disaster.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman approved the sale of the oceanfront property, which could go for as much as $100 to $110 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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