Miami Beach

More than 150 people are missing after condo collapse. Here’s where that number comes from

There are at least five dead and more than 150 people missing as rescue crews continue to search through the rubble for survivors.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has warned that the number of people who are missing is “fluid,” which means it could change as the situation develops.

But, what do officials mean when they say the person is missing?

“Unaccounted individuals” are people who might have been in the building at the time of the collapse, Levine Cava explained during a news conference Friday.

“So those are people who maybe lived there but we don’t know if they were there at the time so we are waiting for confirmation ... It may be people that we’ve been told — people are calling in — maybe this person was there, but that’s not to say they were definitely there,” Levine Cava said.

The list of unaccounted people was compiled from missing person reports and data collected at the reunification site, which was originally at the Surfside Community Center before being moved one block north to the Grand Beach Hotel.

Crews on Saturday were continuing their search and rescue mission. One additional victim was found Saturday. So far, officials say there are at least five deaths and 156 people missing. There are 130 people accounted for.

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This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 5:21 PM.

Follow More of Our Reporting on Condo Collapse: Disaster in Surfside

Michelle Marchante
Miami Herald
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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