![]() To assist in disaster relief following the building collapse in Surfside, Florida. Recovery efforts were hindered by a fire smoldering beneath the rubble on Saturday.Īn emergency delegation of engineering and rescue specialists from the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command flew out to help local crews at Surfside in coordination with the Florida governor’s office and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.Ī team of experts from the IDF Home Front Command taking off for Florida ![]() Israeli officials and disaster relief specialists flew to the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, on June 26, 2021, in the wake of the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building on June 24.Īs of June 30, five people had been found dead, 37 were rescued alive from the wreckage and approximately 156 people were still missing. 'Maybe there's a confined space that somebody left, and somebody is alive in there,' he said.Humanitarian Operations| Relief Efforts Around the World| Israel Defense Forces (IDF) It's natural,' Vach said.īut the team has not given up hope, he stresses, saying that every day it finds new spaces and channels within the layers of debris. 'I would not say there are no chances.'Īt the end of their 12-hour shifts, members of the Israeli team meet to talk and process their laborious task. Vach said his conversations with families have been difficult, and his team was committed to being transparent with them as the possibility of finding victims alive grows slimmer. On the beach, a few hundred meters from the pile of twisted metal and concrete where the tower once stood intact, the word 'HOPE' is etched in enormous letters in the sand. ![]() At a makeshift memorial near the site, someone left a flower pot with orchids and a message inscribed: 'Estelle, stay strong, come home.' Once they know where they are on the site, the crews must penetrate meters of concrete in an effort to reach the bedrooms and search for possible cavities where survivors may have found a measure of protection, Vach said. Local search and rescue personnel talk with members of an Israeli team, as they work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building where scores of people remain missing Several families had expressed hope the Israeli team, renowned for skills honed during rescue operations at buildings damaged by warfare, would join the frantic search for survivors. More than two dozen of those unaccounted for were Jewish and had links to Israel, according to an Israeli official. Joining forces with the hundreds of American first responders and a team of Mexican rescuers, the Israelis have spent every waking hour either sifting through the four-story pile of debris or meeting with the families of the missing, with two- to three-hour breaks for sleep, Vach said. 'It's one of the most difficult and complicated situations that I've ever seen,' Vach, who has commanded his unit for four years, said on Tuesday. In it, they hoped to find and rescue dozens of missing people in the rubble. Once at the site, they found a massive heap of fragmented concrete and mangled metal, with children's toys and other personal belongings strewn about. Many remain unaccounted for in the disaster in Surfside almost a week later
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