Florida condo survivor search ongoing; cause of collapse debated

Days after the collapse of a high-rise near Miami, an explanation for the disaster remains elusive.

Rescue workers digging feverishly for a fifth day Monday stressed that they could still find survivors in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condo building, as an explanation for what caused the disaster sparks a debate. The death toll rose by just four people Sunday, to a total of nine confirmed dead. But more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside, near Miami. Their families rode buses to a site close enough to watch the intense rescue effort, including firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts employing radar and sonar devices. Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers moving through the area, but at least the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.