The official death toll from collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida rose to 94, with 83 of the victims identified and the remains of 80 returned to families, officials said during a daily briefing.
NBC News reports that 22 people remain unaccounted for. (Some of the unidentified remains may be of those people still listed as unaccounted for.) More than 220 people who were in the building when it collapsed have been accounted for since the June 24th early-morning collapse.
The job of recovery and identification is getting more complicated and gruesome as the remains being found are increasing smaller. At this point, identification of remains will largely rely on DNA analysis.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday that the recovery crews are also collecting and cataloging personal items–such as photographs, jewelry, religious items, cellphones and other items–found in the rubble so that they can be returned to their owners or their families.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said officials have started to discuss what will be done with the site where the building once stood. “Obviously, this has become more than a collapsed building site,” he said. “It is a holy site, for lack of a better word.”