Death toll reaches 9 in Fla. condo collapse

Of the 136 units in the building, ranging in size from one to four bedrooms, 55 were destroyed in the collapse, the website said. In 2018, an engineer's inspection found major structural deterioration in the parking garage beneath the tower.

Police so far have released the names of four victims: Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83; Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont, 54.

Some residents remain in Champlain Towers North, near the tower that collapsed, where only a voluntary evacuation order has been issued. An inspector did not find any obvious problems with the other building, Reuters reported.

"Having said that, I don't know if I'd be comfortable staying in that building," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, until a comprehensive review was completed.

Alan Cominsky, chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, said they are holding out hope of finding someone alive, but they must be slow and methodical.

"The debris field is scattered throughout, and it's compact, extremely compact," he said.

"If there is a void space, we want to make sure we're given every possibility of a survivor. That's why we can't just go in and move things erratically, because that's going to have the worst outcome possible," he said.