A Mexican rescue team arrived at the collapsed Champlain Towers in Surfside, Miami to help rescue and recover the bodies that were trapped under the rubble of a 12-story residential building that collapsed in the early hours of Thursday.
Authorities continue to make efforts to have a count of the total number of people who were in the building that collapsed, however, there is still no clear figure. What is known is that the count of dead people already rises to 9 while there are another 159 who have not been able to be located by their relatives.
Miami Mayor Charles Burket confirmed the arrival of the Mexican rescuers, although he did not clarify the number of people that make up the group.
The Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, expressed yesterday through his Twitter account that ” Mexico offers its solidarity and support in everything necessary for the work of the rescue corps.” In addition, he sent “Our sincerest condolences to all those affected by the landslide in Surfside, Florida.”
The Mexican rescue team is known as Los Topos, and the name has a reason: they are the ones who know how to find life in the midst of death.
The group was formed with volunteers who came to help spontaneously on September 19, 1985 after the devistaing Mexico City earthquake. After the rescue work, the group devoted itself to the social organization, demolition and reconstruction of houses until in 1986, El Salvador also suffered an earthquake … And Los Topos began their international career.
The group has carried out rescue tasks in various parts of the world. They assisted during the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995, a landslide in Cairo, Egypt, in 1996, the earthquake in Colombia in 1999, and the Fukushima earthquake in 2011.
In Miami, although 4 days have passed since the collapse, there are still chances of finding people alive under the rubble, according to experts. However, rescue efforts have been slow, so the president of the United States, Joe Biden, declared an emergency in the state of Florida, to allocate more resources from the federal government to complement the efforts of the local.
“The president’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts,” the White House announced.
The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) clarified that so far there is no presence of nationals among the victims of the collapse. However, there are 18 Latin American citizens, from Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. In addition, there are also victims of the Jewish community in Florida.
Authorities have yet to provide any possible explanation for the collapse that took the residents of Champlain Towers South by surprise. The housing complex had more than 130 homes, 80 of which were occupied.
