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A worker waits to load his truck with debris from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South building, as removal and recovery work continues at the site of the partially collapsed condo building, in Surfside, Fla., on July 14.
Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press
The death toll in the partial collapse of a residential building near Miami has risen by two to 97 as the number of people unaccounted for in the disaster dropped to eight, officials said.
Of the 97 confirmed dead, 90 have been identified, Miami-Dade County said in a release on Wednesday.
“The total number of confirmed deaths is now 97 – a staggering, heartbreaking loss of life,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Twitter.
The updated tally, which includes the identification of 51-year-old Luis F. Barth, raised the prospect that officials are close to a final count for confirmed dead.
Workers have removed a total 10 million kilograms of debris from the site in the three weeks since a major part of the 12-storey building in Surfside, Fla., collapsed on June 24.
Investigators have not determined what caused the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South to fall apart. Attention has been focused on a 2018 engineering report that warned of structural deficiencies.
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