Death toll in Florida condo collapse now 78 amid search for cause

Fourteen more bodies were recovered as searchers used heavy equipment to move mounds of shattered concrete and steel.

The death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area high-rise condo building jumped to 78 on Friday, a number the mayor called “heartbreaking” as recovery workers toiled to find victims in the rubble. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a media conference the work to recover victims was “moving forward with great urgency” in order to bring closure to families who have spent an agonizing two weeks waiting for news. “This is a staggering and heartbreaking number that affects all of us very deeply,” Levine Cava said of the latest death toll. Another 62 people remain unaccounted for.