5 years after the Surfside condo collapse, the toll of the tragedy remains

Search and rescue official Maggie Castro hugs Pablo Langesfeld on July 7, 2021, as they visit a memorial for victims of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse. Langesfeld's daughter Nicole and son-in-law were among those who died in the 12-story building's collapse. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images SURFSIDE, Fla. — A torch was lit just after 1 a.m. Wednesday in remembrance of the 98 people killed when the Champlain Towers South building collapsed on June 24, 2021, one of the largest structural failures in U.S. history. Police body cam video shows officers arriving in the darkness to find two-thirds of the 12-story condominium complex in a heap of rubble, with people in the remaining units stranded, screaming for help from their balconies. It didn't take long for first responders to realize what they were up against. "This is huge, I mean humongous," one officer tells his captain. The condo collapse was the highest-level mass casualty event ever in Miami-Dade County. "Just everything about this was surreal," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who led the government response, said in a recent interview with NPR. "Arriving on the scene and surveying it is when you get that gut punch. Beyond belief. …