Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 1, 2021
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Biden heads to Florida condo collapse site, death toll at 18
Flowers and other items fill a memorial put up for those lost in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on July 01, 2021 in Surfside, Florida (JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
US President Joe Biden heads to Florida to meet with families heartbroken by the collapse of a beachfront condo building a week ago, as hopes of finding survivors in the rubble all but vanish.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden held hands as they left the White House early for the flight to Miami and a trip to nearby Surfside, where the toll in the tragedy now stands at 18 dead, with more than 140 still unaccounted for.
The dead include two children, aged four and 10, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said late yesterday.
Any loss of life “is a tragedy,” she said, “but the loss of our children is too great to bear.”
