A man descends from the rubble pile, as members of the search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building.
A worker at the rubble pile of the partly collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida.
Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
  • Binx the cat, a resident on the ninth floor of the collapsed Florida condo building, has been found.
  • Binx was reunited with his family more than two weeks after the collapse, officials said Friday.
  • Officials said the death toll is at least 78, with more than 60 people potentially unaccounted for.
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Binx the cat, a resident on the ninth floor of the Champlain Towers South, was found alive and reunited with his family on Friday, more than two weeks after the building collapsed.

Binx was found by volunteers near the rubble at the site of the collapse, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a news conference.

"After 16 long and extremely difficult days, I'm happy to be able to share a small piece of good news," the mayor said, announcing that Binx had been reunited with his family hours earlier.

One of the volunteers spotted Binx and thought they recognized him. He was brought to a local animal shelter and was positively identified as belonging to one of the families that lived in the building.

"I'm glad that this small miracle could bring some light into the lives of a hurting family today, and provide a bright spot for our whole community in the midst of this terrible tragedy," Levine Cava said.

The 12-story Champlain Towers South, located in Surfside, Florida, collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24, setting off two weeks of rescue operations that turned into a recovery mission on Wednesday.

Officials said Friday the death toll was at least 78, with more than 60 people potentially unaccounted for.

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