Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
- First responders heard a woman's voice for hours in the wreckage of the collapsed Florida condo after the disaster.
- Rescue crews were unable to save the woman from inside Champlain Towers South.
- 18 people have been confirmed dead, with over 140 still unaccounted for, officials said.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
First responders heard the voice of a woman trapped in the wreckage of the partly collapsed Florida condo building for hours in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe – but were unable to save her, a fire official said Thursday.
"Unfortunately, during our initial search-and-rescue efforts…we did hear audible sounds and they were searching for a female voice, it's what we heard for several hours, and eventually, we didn't hear her voice anymore," Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky told reporters during a press briefing.
Cominsky said that first responders "continued searching" for the woman, but were not able to rescue her.
"That's emphasizing the magnitude of what we're going through – the efforts that all of our fire personnel, everyone that's here on scene trying to do the best we can in these heroic efforts," Cominsky said. "And yes, unfortunately we didn't have success with that."
Nearly half of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside suddenly collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. on June 24 as residents were asleep in their beds.
The trapped woman was stuck behind a wall of concrete, a dumpster and metal rebar in a lower level of the building that was in the garage, WPLG Local 10 reported.
"Everybody that was there, that's what we're trying to do, get this lady out and comfort her...She was asking for help and she was pleading to be taken out of there," one anonymous rescuer who was one of the first on the scene told the news outlet.
"We were continuously talking to her...'Honey, we got you. We're going to get to you,'" he said.
The rescuer said he was never able to see the trapped woman.
"The first thing I remember is thumping on the wall and then I remember her just talking, 'I'm here, get me out. Get me out,'" he said.
The confirmed death toll in the condo collapse was still at 18 as of Thursday. Two children were among the fatal victims. More than 140 people remain unaccounted for.
Officials halted the massive search-and-rescue operation early Thursday over fears that the rest of the structure could collapse.
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