Search efforts for possible survivors in the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment block near Miami have been suspended ahead of the controlled demolition of the rest of the building.

Teams are set to start bringing down the remaining structure late on Sunday.

The demolition of Champlain Towers South was brought forward over safety fears due to an approaching storm.

Part of the 12-storey block collapsed on 24 June. Twenty-four people are known to have died and 121 are missing.

Even as officials and rescue workers pledge hope, however slim, that life could be found within the voids of the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, the language around the tragedy has subtly begun to shift into the past tense.

Mourners paying their respects at makeshift memorials near the cordoned-off site have begun to speak of the lost, while local and federal officials are publicly asking for, as Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week, a little bit of luck, prayers and some miracles.

Nathan Reiber retired to Florida in the 1970s carrying more baggage than a suitcase. 

The Canadian lawyer would come to be hailed for his philanthropy, rubbing elbows with celebrities and world leaders, and donating time and money to charitable causes. His South Florida building career was described as a happy accident, a case of a shrewd retiree spotting a property and launching the second act of his business career. 

The tally of the missing in the Florida condominium collapse was substantially reduced Friday, from 145 to 128, after duplicate names were eliminated and some people reported missing turned up safe, officials said.

Authorities also announced the recovery of two more bodies, including the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter. That raised the confirmed death toll to 20 people.

One week after a 12-story condo building collapsed near Miami, Florida, President Joe Biden praised how the United States has come together to deal with the disaster while also grieving with families who still have loved ones missing.

“They’re going through hell,” Biden said of the families he met with who, either escaped the building or still have loved ones missing. “Jill and I wanted them to know that we’re with them. That the country is with them. Our message today is that we’re here for you, as one nation.”

A week after a condo building collapsed outside Miami, the death toll continues to slowly climb as hundreds of workers continue non-stop search and rescue efforts. Now two children have been identified among the dead.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that two of the six bodies found in the rubble Wednesday were children, ages 4 and 10. This raises the death toll to 18; 147 people are still missing.

Crews searching for survivors in the ruins of a collapsed Florida condo tower have built a ramp that should allow the use of heavier equipment, potentially accelerating the removal of concrete that “could lead to incredibly good news events,” the state fire marshal said Wednesday.

Since the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South last week in Surfside, rescuers have been working to peel back layers of concrete on the pancaked building without disturbing the unstable pile of debris.

A Florida high-rise that collapsed early Thursday was determined to be on unstable land a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida International University.

The building, which was constructed in 1981, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a study in 2020 by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment.

When Wdowinski saw the news that the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside collapsed, he instantly remembered it from the study, he said.

The board president of the collapsed high-rise near Miami warned residents two months before the deadly tragedy that parts of the building’s infrastructure were seriously decaying, according to a letter obtained by multiple media outlets Tuesday. 

In the letter dated April 9, Surfside’s Champlain Towers South’s condominium association president Jean Wodnicki explained to residents why an assessed $15 million in repairs to the building was necessary. 

The president of the Champlain South Towers condo association, in an April letter, wrote that damage to the garage had gotten significantly worse since a 2018 inspection and that the concrete deterioration of the building was "accelerating," according to reports Monday. 

At least 11 people have died and more than 150 are still missing after the Miami condo partially collapsed early Thursday in Surfside, Florida. Rescue workers continue to search for survivors in the rubble.