Family Identifies FL Condo Collapse Victim, 4 Dead, 159 Missing

Updated: 4:30 p.m., Friday

SURFSIDE, FL — Three bodies were pulled overnight from the rubble of a 12-story condo in Surfside that partially collapsed early Thursday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference Friday morning.

This brings the total number of deaths to four at the oceanfront Champlain Towers South Condo at 8777 Collins Ave., after one death was confirmed Thursday morning. Miami-Dade police are working with the medical examiner's office to identify the victims.

“Unfortunately, this has been a tragic night,” the mayor said.

Though the dead haven't been named publicly, yet, the family of Stacie Fang identified her as one of those killed in the building collapse. Fang’s son, 15-year-old Jonah Handler, was pulled alive from the disaster, the Miami Herald reported.

Related: Fire Slows Efforts At FL Condo Collapse, 4 Dead, 159 Missing

"There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie. The members of the Fang and Handler family would like to express our deepest appreciation for the outpouring of sympathy, compassion and support we have received. The many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time," the family said in a statement.

The number of people unaccounted for also increased overnight to 159 missing, Levine Cava said. Previously, officials said there were 99 people unaccounted for at the building. Thirty-seven people have been pulled from the devastation, and 120 have been accounted for, she added.

Related: 5 Things To Know About The Surfside Condo Collapse

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President Joe Biden authorized FEMA support at the site after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order issuing a state of emergency Thursday evening, Levine Cava said. Federal assistance will be provided to help with the recovery efforts and for the families affected by the tragedy.

FEMA dispatched three urban search and rescue teams, as well as its Management Assistance Team 1 to Surfside Friday afternoon, CNN reported.

Rescue crews will continue to work at the site, digging away at the rubble as they look for survivors, officials said.

Urban search-and-rescue teams from throughout the state have been put on standby to assist at the scene, as many Miami-Dade rescue workers have been working for nearly 24 hours, said Kevin Guthrie with the Florida Department of Emergency Management.

“It’s incredibly moving to be on site with these safety personnel, these fire rescue (workers.) They are totally, totally motivated to find people,” Levine Cava said. “They have to be pulled off the shifts, that is how motivated they are.”

She also noted that they’re risking their own lives by searching the rubble at the site.

“This work is being done at extreme risk to these individuals. Debris is falling on them as they do their work. We have structural engineers on-site to ensure they are uninjured,” the mayor said. “They are taking extraordinary risk every day.”

As first responders dig through the rubble, the threat of falling debris makes search-and-rescue efforts "a very slow and methodical process," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah said. Thursday afternoon, this shifting debris caused a small fire, which took about 20 minutes to extinguish, pausing rescue efforts.

The fire reignited overnight but didn’t prevent the first responders from continuing their work, he added.

Rescue workers are using sonar devices to listen for people trapped in the rubble. Sounds of possible banging have been picked up throughout the night, but no voices have been detected, Jadallah said.

“We have hope and every time we hear a sound, we concentrate on that area,” he said.

“I just have to implore everybody, just pray,” Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners Vice Chair Oliver G. Gilbert III said during a late Thursday afternoon news conference. “We’re all going to continue to work, but we need everybody to continue to pray, and not just for the people who are in those buildings, but for their families, who are desperately hoping that they’re safe; for the firefighters and first responders who are going in there trying to save their lives; for this community. We have to pray. We’re gonna pray and we’re gonna work.”

A hardship fund, SupportSurfside.org, has been established to help residents and families affected by the condo collapse. The Coral Gables Community Foundation, The Key Biscayne Community Foundation, and The Miami Foundation are working together to handle the fund, which is taking donations through the website.

Officials from five countries — Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay — said some of their citizens are missing in the building’s collapse.

According to Paraguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, six Paraguayans are missing. This includes President Mario Abdo Benítez’s sister-in-law and her three children, NBC News reported.

Eduardo Bouzout, Uruguay’s consul in Miami, told CNN that three Uruguayan citizens were in the building when it fell.

CNN also reported that there were six Colombian nationals living in the condo building.

Venezuela’s director of consular affairs, Brian Fincheltub, tweeted that four Venezuelans were in the building at the time of the collapse and are missing.

And Argentina’s consulate in Miami issued a press release on Twitter stating that nine Argentinians are missing after the condo tower fell.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the death toll was likely to rise because the tower was quite full at the time of the collapse around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

“The building is literally pancaked,” Burkett said. “That is heartbreaking because it doesn’t mean, to me, that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive.”

Hours after the collapse, searchers were trying to reach a trapped child whose parents were believed to be dead. In another case, rescuers saved a mother and child, but the woman’s leg had to be amputated to remove her from the rubble, Frank Rollason, director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management, told the Miami Herald.

Soon after the collapse, Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue tweeted that 80 units — with help from area fire departments — were at the scene near 88th Street and Collins Avenue.

Of the condo tower's 136 units, 55 units along the northeast corridor were affected by the collapse, Jadallah said during a Thursday morning news conference.

Authorities did not say what may have caused the collapse. On video footage captured from nearby, the center of the building appeared to fall first, with a section nearest the ocean teetering and coming down seconds later as a huge dust cloud swallowed the neighborhood.

Work was being done on the building’s roof, but Burkett said he did not see how that could have been the cause.

Ten people were treated at the scene early Thursday and two were brought to the hospital, one of whom died, Burkett said. He also said 15 families walked out of the building on their own.

Hotels opened to some of the displaced residents, Levin Cava said, and deliveries of food, medicine and more were have been arranged.

A family reunification center has been set up at 9301 Collins Ave. for anyone seeking unaccounted for or missing relatives. Those with family members who are unaccounted for or are safe are asked to call 305-614-1819 to account for them. To report a missing person or fill out a wellness check form for residents of the condo building, visit www.miamidade.gov/emergency.

DeSantis toured the site of the collapse, calling it “a tragic day," during a Thursday afternoon news conference.

He said, “The TV doesn’t do it justice. It is really, really traumatic to see the collapse of a massive structure like that.

At the same news conference, Levine Cava said, “This is the incredible, unimaginable situation that none of us could have predicted, but we have the right people on the job.”

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is experienced in dealing with collapsed structure situations, she said. So far, they’ve been “able to rescue so many from the buildings (at Champlain Towers,) the intact building, the collapsed building, and really (it’s) incredible that at this time we’ve only identified one person as having passed."

The Champlain Towers South Condo, built in 1981, faces the ocean and has two sister buildings, Champlain Towers North and Champlain Towers East, the Miami Herald reported. Condo units recently put on the market in the tower have ranged from $600,000 to $699,000.

Patch will update this breaking news story.

This story contains reporting from the Associated Press.