Two new bodies were discovered in the rubble of the collapsed building in Florida, bringing the death toll to 22, with 126 people still missing.

While the search was halted for several hours on Thursday due to new risks of collapse, the entire building will be demolished.

Two new bodies were discovered in the rubble of the collapsed building in Florida, bringing the death toll to 22, with 126 people still missing, authorities said on Friday.

"During today's searches, we discovered the bodies of two more people," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a press conference on Friday.

A few hours earlier, she had announced the discovery of two other corpses, including that of a seven-year-old girl, the child of a Miami firefighter.

The whole building is going to be demolished

"All the nights (since the collapse) have been immensely difficult for everyone (...) but last night was special. It was really different and more difficult for our rescuers", described the mayor the next day. a moving visit from President Joe Biden, who spent several hours with rescuers and families.

The number of people missing has also risen to 126, Daniella Levine Cava said, and 188 residents of the Surfside apartment building in South Florida have now been found safe by investigators.

The search for survivors, more and more desperate, had been interrupted for several hours on Thursday, the authorities fearing that the still standing sections of the building would collapse in turn, before resuming at the end of the afternoon.

As a precaution, the entire building will be demolished, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced on Friday.

Hurricane Elsa

Most of the 12-story building, named Champlain Towers South, collapsed on June 24 at around 1:20 a.m. (5:20 a.m. GMT) in a cloud of dust, one of the worst urban disasters in the history of the United States.

Another residential complex, named Crestview Towers, in nearby North Miami Beach was evacuated on Friday after an inspection highlighted safety issues in the building's structure, local media reported. 

Hurricane Elsa, currently over the island of Barbados and which could possibly hamper ongoing searches at Surfside, is expected to approach "Florida between Monday and Tuesday," said Robert Molleda, meteorological services. Americans.