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- Mexican rescuers are waiting for local officials to let them to search through rubble in Florida.
- Los Topos Azteca arrived in Surfside on Monday, The Washington Post reported.
- The group formed as volunteers after the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City.
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A Mexican search and rescue team is among those working to find survivors after a Florida condo building collapsed last week. The team, Los Topos Azteca, has been working on international disasters since 1985, The Washington Post reported.
The search and rescue teams, made up of around 400 people, working at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, hail from across the globe and are considered some of the most experienced in the world, the Associated Press reported.
Rescuers are working to find 149 people that are still unaccounted for. At least 12 people have been confirmed dead.
The team from Mexico, Los Topos Azteca or Heroes at Home, arrived in Surfside on Monday. The team evolved from a group of volunteers named Los Topos, or "the moles," that formed in September 1985 to handle a massive 8.1 earthquake that rattled Mexico City.
Since then, Los Topos which helped save people from under the rubble during the 1985 earthquake mainly in low-income neighborhoods, has spread out working on natural disasters in Mexico and across the world.
The group has worked on several dozen operations including a 2010 mine collapse in Chile, an earthquake in Haiti, and the 9/11 attacks.
"When you have seen death and have had the opportunity to rescue someone … that instinct inside of you to preserve the human race just awakens," Héctor Méndez, a member of the group, told the Post.
However, the team is still waiting for local authorities to authorize them to work on the site, the Post reported.
"We just want to help," Méndez, who rescued three people from the rubble after the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, told the Post.
Israel Defense Forces are another international group helping with search and rescue efforts. The presence of international rescuers shows how far the impact of the building collapse goes.
People missing in the rubble hailed from at least a dozen other countries, and family members from across the globe have been granted visas to come to the site of the collapsed building as officials try to locate more survivors.