Surfside condo search-and-rescue ops turn into recovery mission [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Florida officials announced on Wednesday that the search-and-rescue operations will be turned into a recovery mission.
• The announcement was made weeks following the tragedy as authorities also notified the families of missing victims.
• As of Wednesday, the death toll has reached 53, with 86 missing people.

State and local authorities in Florida announced Wednesday evening that the ongoing search-and-rescue operations have now been turned into a recovery effort, signaling that any signs of life retrieval would be impossible since it’s already been a couple of weeks from the time of tragedy.

During the press conference on Wednesday, Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava said that they have arrived with what she described as a “difficult decision” with “profound sadness.”

“We have all asked God for a miracle, so the decision to transition from rescue to recovery is an extremely difficult one,” Cava said.

She added that a moment of silence will be observed by 7 pm local time prior to the recovery transition which formally began at midnight.

Per Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, the chance of rescuing somebody who’s still alive is “near zero.” He noted, though, that he was still hoping “for a miracle.”

The New York Times reported that officials have met with the missing victims’ families prior to making the announcement.

“Just based on the facts, there’s zero chance of survival,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah told the families during a private briefing, per the Times.

During the initial days following the collapse, Jadallah said that the firefighters were relying on human sounds to know where to conduct their rescue ops. Successful retrieval of survivors was only made hours following the disaster.

One survivor who was successfully rescued was 15-year-old high school student Jonah Handler, per ABC affiliate WPLG. His mother Stacie Fang was also retrieved from the rubble but passed away shortly.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced that engineers will probe the collapse to determine its cause, but noted that it would take a while.

“You’re not gonna have those answers immediately, but I know that they are going to be working diligently to do that,” he said after the fatal tragedy.

As of Wednesday, over 54 people were officially listed as fatalities while there were still 86 people unaccounted for, the Times reported.

Source: PEOPLE.com