No Sign Of Survivors At Collapsed Condo As Recovery Effort Enters 2nd Week

As the search for survivors at the site of the collapsed condo building in Miami enters its second week, officials admit that the chance of finding people alive is growing smaller by the day. Workers were hoping to find pockets in the debris where a person could have survived, but so far have not had any luck finding survivors since the day of the collapse.

"Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive," Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said.

Authorities have not said when they will officially end the rescue efforts but expect it to happen soon.

"I think everybody will be ready when it's time to move to the next phase," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

Rescue workers pulled more bodies from the rubble, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to 56. Officials said that 100 people remain unaccounted for but added that 70 people were confirmed to have been inside the building when it collapsed.

In addition to searching for survivors, the workers are painstakingly cataloging the debris and any items they find in the rubble. The debris is considered evidence and will be examined by structural engineers as they try to determine what caused the building to collapse.

The debris is being sorted on-site and marked with its location before being put into special bins. They are also taking photos of any personal items they find so families can claim them once the recovery efforts have concluded.

"[The National Institute of Standards and Technology], our federal partner, continues to work closely with the structural specialists, with detectives, and the fire rescue crews on site, as the evidence gathering process is well underway," Levine Cava said.

"They're capturing all possible insights from the debris, and all evidence is being properly tagged and logged."

So far, they have removed 124 tons of debris from the site.