Iran Press/America: That means 117 people are still unaccounted for, Daniella Levine Cava said.
Earlier in the day, Levine Cava announced the recovery of three bodies after search efforts resumed around midnight following the demolition Sunday night of what had remained to stand of the building.
The structure was demolished around 10:30 p.m. Sunday using a method Levine Cava called "energetic felling," describing it as a process that "uses small, strategically placed explosives and relies on gravity to bring the building down in place.
"The demolition, planned because of approaching Tropical Storm Elsa, was carried out "exactly as planned," the mayor said and allowed the search to more safely expand to the area next to where the structure had been.
The pile of rubble next to the building was actually what had been holding up the structure, Levine Cava said, making it unsafe for crews to search there.
"Truly, we could not continue without bringing this building down," she said.
The demolition allowed search crews to access the area closest to the building that they had not been able to access before. "And that was where we needed to go," she said.
Firefighters battle a blaze at the collapse site.
The demolition came after part of the building fell early in the morning on June 24, collapsing approximately 55 of the building's 136 units. Crews immediately began digging through up to 16 feet of concrete.
With the threat of Elsa looming, officials and rescue crews were increasingly concerned about the safety of those searching the rubble and the potential the rest of the structure would collapse.
Now that the rest of the building is down, the "site is staffed with a tremendous amount of search and rescue workers," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said Monday evening.
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