Cat Found Alive, Reunited With Family After FL Condo Collapse

SURFSIDE, FL — A cat missing for more than two weeks following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside was found alive Thursday, providing a glimmer of hope and happiness for a community enveloped in tragedy.

Binx, a cat who lived on the 9th floor of the fallen condo, was found near the rubble. On Friday, he was reunited with his family, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed during a news conference.

Levine Cava smiled as she shared the “small piece of good news.”

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Levine Cava said. “I’m glad this small miracle could bring some light into the lives of a hurting family today and provide a bright spot for our whole community in the midst of this terrible tragedy.”

The death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area condo building rose to 79 on Friday evening, a number that Levine Cava called "heartbreaking" as recovery workers worked for a 16th day to find victims in the rubble.

RELATED: FL Condo Collapse: Rescue Workers Press On; 79 Dead, 61 Missing

Another 61 people remain unaccounted for. Detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed, according to The Associated Press.

Binx was found near the rubble and taken to Kitty Campus, an Miami Beach organization that cares for cats, according to a report from The Miami Herald.

Kitty Campus co-founder Gina Nicole Vlasek later posted on Facebook about the miracle, the Herald reported.

“All we needed was a ray of hope in this tragedy ... Today was one of the most amazing days ... one of the survivors came to see the cat and to determine if it was her families cat and IT WAS!” Vlasek wrote in the post. “We are so grateful to be able to help in any small way. These families lost so much but our south Florida communities team work was able to give them this. Thank you!”