Four dead, 159 unaccounted for as building collapses near Miami Beach

SURSIDE, United States: Four people are now known to have died in the collapse of an oceanfront apartment building near Miami Beach, officials said Friday, while the number of unaccounted for has risen to 159 -- fueling fears of a much higher death toll.

An unknown number of residents are feared to havebeen asleep in the 12-story tower in the town of Surfside, when one of its wings was reduced early Thursday to a gigantic pile of debris.

"We do have 120 people now accounted for, which is very, very good news. But our unaccounted for number has gone up to 159," Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a news conference.

"In addition, we can tragically report the death count is now four," she said, adding that the numbers were "very fluid." Rescue teams with sniffer dogs again worked through the night despite heavy rain -- clinging to the diminishing chance of finding additional survivors.

Their efforts were illuminated by lights shining on the debris, with the recovered bodies put into yellow bags and transported away as homicide detectives worked to confirm the identities of the victims.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency early Friday in response to the disaster, ordering federal assistance for the relief effort.At a Surfside community center Thursday night, relatives of the missing wept as they waited for news.

Occupants who were lucky enough to have been away when disaster struck pondered sudden homelessness. The building was occupied by a mix of full-time and seasonal residents and renters, and officials have repeatedly stressed it is unclear how many people were actually inside at the time.

Around 55 apartments were affected by the collapse. Some residents were able to walk down the stairs to safety while others had to be rescued from their balconies.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue assistant chief Ray Jadallah said search teams were guided by the sounds they detected "throughout the night." "It’s not specifically, you know, human sounds -- it could be, you know, tapping, it could be steel, you know, kind of twisting, it could be some of the debris kind of raining down," he explained to reporters. "We have hope. And every time that we hear sound, we concentrate in that area."