In Surfside, Florida, search-and-rescue crews are working around the clock following the collapse of the Champlain Tower South condo building last week.
About 130 firefighters working to clear the ruble and search for survivors have reported hearing tapping and other sounds, but it is still not clear if these are human made sounds or just shifting debris. The clock is ticking for the 159 people who are still unaccounted for but how long can they survive trapped under tons of concrete?
“We still have hope that we will find people alive,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference Friday.
Officials feel they are working against the clock, but some experts say people in such situations have been known to survive for weeks.
Dr. Mike Cirgliano, an internist with Penn Medicine and medical contributor for “Good Day Philadelphia,” told FOX 29 that people can survive in spaces created within the wreckage with access to oxygen and possibly rainwater.
Both water and oxygen are necessary to survive longer than a few days: People can survive weeks without food but only days without water, Duke University professor Dr. Richard Moon said last year following the deadly blast in Beirut.
“This is the risk that we take: it’s the risk vs. benefit,” Assistant Miami-Dade Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said. “Every time that we have that belief that there’s hope with personnel that are trapped, we do risk our lives.”
Heavy rain briefly halted the search but rescue crews are using every resource available including sniffer dogs and cranes while more crewmembers search from below using saws and jackhammers.
