Half-collapsed Miami condo destroyed in controlled demolition

By Dildar Baykan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A 13-storey building that partially collapsed in the US state of Florida last month was demolished late on Sunday.

The remaining part of the condo located in the town of Surfside near Miami was brought down at 10.30 p.m., local time [0230 GMT], in a controlled demolition due to the threat it posed to search and rescue workers on site searching the rubble for possible survivors.

The building collapsed within minutes amid a pause in search and rescue efforts as there is still no information on 121 people thought to have been in the part of the building that collapsed.

So far, the bodies of 24 people, including 3 children, have been recovered from the debris.

About half of the 13-storey building collapsed on June 24, and the frantic search for survivors only yielded one person -- a boy rescued soon after the disaster.