Less than a month after the event, authorities have halted the effort to recover bodies from the site of the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida after recovering the remains of 98 people, the Associated Press reports. The remains of 97 victims of the June 24th collapse were identified and their families notified. One set of remains has yet to be definitively identified.
The site of the collapse has now been searched thoroughly, with the rubble from the 12-story building remove and the site leveled. The portion of the building that wasn’t destroyed in the collapsed was razed July 4th weekend to stabilize the debris for the safety of rescue workers.
The rescue workers evacuated the site in a column of emergency and construction vehicles Friday afternoon. “It’s obviously devastating. It’s obviously a difficult situation across the board,” Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the men and women that represent Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.”