Collapsed Florida Condo Building Fully Demolished

Portion of a collapsed south Florida condo building is demolished late Sunday, July 4.

Demolition crews set off explosives to bring down the damaged remaining portion of the collapsed condo building, a key step to resuming the search for victims as rescuers possibly gain access to new areas of the rubble.

The death toll stands at 24, with 121 people still unaccounted for. No one has been found alive since the earliest hours of the search on June 24.

Crews were to begin clearing some of the new debris so rescuers could start making their way into parts of the building’s underground garage.

Once there, crews were hoping that they will gain access for the first time to parts of the garage area that are a focus of interest, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah has said.

That could give a clearer picture of voids that may exist in the rubble and could possibly harbor survivors.

Rescuers will await the “all-clear” after the demolition and then immediately dive back into the task of trying to locate any survivors buried under the rubble, County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

Officials had previously said that the search could resume from 15 minutes to an hour after the detonation.