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The number of confirmed dead at the site of a collapsed Florida condo building spiked to 46 overnight, with rescue workers pulling 10 more bodies from the rubble.

“Thirty-two of these victims have been identified and next of kin notifications have been made,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a morning briefing.

“At this time, 200 people have been accounted for and 94 are unaccounted for,” Cava, who broke down at one point during the briefing, added.

“Every single victim uncovered is somebody’s child, somebody’s mother, somebody’s teacher, somebody’s colleague,” the mayor said. “A classmate, a best friend. Our hearts break for those who are mourning and for those who are waiting and waiting.

“So please continue to wrap your love and your prayers and your arms around each of these families at the center of the tragedy,” she said.


  Rescue workers pulled 10 more bodies from the rubble overnight. AP Rescue workers pulled 10 more bodies from the rubble overnight. AP

Hundreds of rescue workers continue to painstakingly sift through the pile of concrete and debris, with Sunday’s demolition of the remaining building expanding the search at the site.

“Our first responders have truly searched that pile every single day since the collapse as if they’re searching for their own loved ones,” Cava said.

Crews on Tuesday worked through high winds and pelting rain from the incoming Tropical Storm Elsa, which then made landfall west of the site Wednesday but nonetheless brought foul weather to Surfside.

Meanwhile, officials continue to classify the operation as a search and rescue mission, which means the work is primarily geared to find survivors — despite greatly diminished chances.

On Monday, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky asked if there was discussion to classify the operation as a recovery mission, meaning a search for bodies.

Cominsky said authorities are “having different dialogues,” but conceded that crews on the pile have not found “liveable spaces” where survivors might be found.

Cominsky said at Wednesday’s briefing that there was no indication that any of the bodies pulled from the pile had survived the initial collapse.


  Crews on Tuesday worked through high winds and pelting rain from incoming Tropical Storm Elsa. AP Crews on Tuesday worked through high winds and pelting rain from incoming Tropical Storm Elsa. AP

“Obviously it’s very difficult,” the chief said. “We’ve been working around the clock, all our personnel from when we first got here. As the fire chief obviously I couldn’t be prouder of the men and women in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

“We’ve been exhausting every effort, and that’s where we are now,” Cominsky said. “We’re exhausting every effort.

Cava added that the victims’ families “are being supported to come to closure as soon as possible.”

The 12-story tower collapsed shortly before 1:30 a.m. on June 24, burying nearly 150 people underneath tons of concrete.

Officials said on Tuesday that more than 5 million pounds of concrete and debris have been pulled from the pile since work began, but no survivors have been found since the day of the deadly collapse.

Cava also said that the county is compiling a team of experts and is conducting a review of other Miami-Dade buildings — with 40 buildings so far inspected and one found to have “a structural deficiency” in four balconies.

One North Miami Beach condo was evacuated last week when it was found to be “structurally and electrically unsafe.”

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