Florida condo collapse: Female voice was heard during initial rescue efforts, says official....

 Florida condo collapse: Female voice was heard during initial rescue efforts, says official....

While the chance of finding any survivor in the Florida condominium collapse is getting slimmer with every passing day, the fire rescue chief of Miami-Dade County said that rescuers did hear signs of life during their initial efforts. The search and rescue operation has stretched into the eighth day after the 12-storey Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed last week.

During a news conference on Thursday, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky was asked about a female voice that was heard in the initial hours of the search and rescue operation. Cominsky said that the rescuers heard a woman’s voice for several hours from underneath the rubble until she could no longer be heard.

"They were searching for a female voice, which we heard for several hours...eventually, we didn't hear her voice anymore," said Cominsky.

Eventually we didn't hear her voice anymore, we continued to search,” he said. “Again… that's emphasizing the magnitude of what we're going through,” he added.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday arrived in Florida to offer comfort to the families of those who died in the collapse or remain missing after the condominium collapse. At least 18 deaths have been confirmed after six more bodies were found in the rubble, including two children, aged 4 and 10. Another 145 people remain missing.

“This is life and death,” Biden said during a briefing. “We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done, makes a difference.”

“There’s gonna be a lot of pain and anxiety and suffering and even the need for psychological help in the days and months that follow," he said. "And so, we’re not going anywhere.”

The rescue efforts were halted on Thursday after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column, raising concern about the stability of the remaining structure, said Cominsky.