- Title: Mexico's Topos search and rescue team stand ready to help in Surfside
- Date: 30th June 2021
- Summary: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, USA (JUNE 30, 2021) (REUTERS) TIGHT VIEW OF RESCUERS WORKING ATOP RUBBLE RESCUE WORKERS AND CRANE WORKING ON DESTROYED BUILDING WITH POLICE CARS IN FOREGROUND SLEEVE OF RESCUE WORKER WITH PATCH OF MEXICAN FLAG OVER PATCH THAT READS TOPOS AZTECA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADRIAN SALVADOR AGUIRRE MACIAS, TOPOS AZTECA RESCUER, SAYING: "They (the families of the missing) are very anguished and desperate. It's already been six days that they've been waiting to know the fate of their family members, and we have sensed their desperation above all." VARIOUS OF CRANES WORKING ON COLLAPSED BUILDING AS SEEN FROM BEACH TIGHT VIEW OF TOP OF COLLAPSED BUILDING AS SEEN FROM BEACH ROSE WITH RAIN LYING ON BARRIER IN FOREGROUND WITH COLLAPSED BUILDING AND CRANE IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADRIAN SALVADOR AGUIRRE MACIAS, TOPOS AZTECA RESCUER, SAYING: "We had a very good talk with all the families in which they asked us to go in but unfortunately we can't. There are protocols in place here and we must follow this country's protocols to get access." TOPOS PATCH YOUNG RESCUE WORKER HOLDING HIS HELMET EXCAVATOR BEING TRANSPORTED TOWARD COLLAPSED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADRIAN SALVADOR AGUIRRE MACIAS, TOPOS AZTECA RESCUER, SAYING: "We are calm, waiting for the time when we know all the people who are working inside - and we pay tribute to them for their good work - all those people will get tired. There will be a time when they ask for our help and that is when we will go in calmly, to do what we know how to do, which is enter collapsed structures and try to get any survivors out." MEMORIAL WALL WITH COLLAPSED BUILDING IN REAR STREET VIEW WITH COLLAPSED BUILDING IN REAR TIGHT VIEW OF TOP OF COLLAPSED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADRIAN SALVADOR AGUIRRE MACIAS, TOPOS AZTECA RESCUER, SAYING: "If there are deceased victims, we will recover the bodies so that the families can close that circle that they are currently in." POLICE VEHICLE ON BEACH NEAR COLLAPSED BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ADRIAN SALVADOR AGUIRRE MACIAS, TOPOS AZTECA RESCUER, SAYING: "The chief was at the Twin Towers (during 9/11), at the Hotel Montana in (Port-au-Prince) Haiti (after the 2010 Haitian earthquake). We have travelled the world over to do our thing, rescuing survivors and recovering bodies of victims." FEMA TRUCK IN FOREGROUND WITH COLLAPSED BUILDING IN REAR FEMA TRUCK EMERGENCY VEHICLES ON STREET WITH CRANES WORKING ON COLLAPSED BUILDING
- Embargoed: 14th July 2021 22:39
- Keywords: Miami building collapse Topos building collapse disaster emergency workers rescuers search and rescue
- Location: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- City: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EJLHB9J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Seven Mexican search-and-rescue volunteers who flew to Florida to help after a residential high-rise near Miami collapsed say they have been barred from the disaster site because U.S. authorities believe they lack experience.
Adrian Salvador Aguirre Macias, 46, who has volunteered with Los Topos Azteca for 14 years, said they have met with the relatives of the missing and they have explained the situation.
"They (the families of the missing) are very anguished and desperate. It's already been six days that they've been waiting to know the fate of their family members, and we have sensed their desperation above all," he said. "We had a very good talk with all the families in which they asked us to go in but unfortunately we can't. There are protocols in place here and we must follow this country's protocols to get access."
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky, asked during a news conference about Los Topos Azteca, said, "I know everybody wants to help, but we need to make sure we have the properly trained individuals to do the job. The Mexican group will be assisting in different ways."
Natalia Barraza of Los Topos Azteca said members of the group had not spoken to Cominsky.
"The fire chief is in charge of the operation and if he said that we will help in some other way, we are at his orders and are willing to help in any way," she said Wednesday. "We will continue to follow up on the necessary paperwork."
Several search-and-rescue groups with the phrase "los topos" which means the moles - in their names emerged from local efforts to help after an earthquake in Mexico City in 1985. Since then, Mexican teams have responded to disasters around the world.
Los Topos, or moles, are a volunteer search and rescue group formed in the aftermath of the devastating quake that struck Mexico City in 1985.
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