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Body of GWU student found at Surfside condo collapse, officials say

The 21-year-old was identified with seven other people in the Twitter post from Miami-Dade Police about bodies recovered.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — The body of Deborah Berezdivin has been found at the Surfside condo collapse site, according to Miami-Dade Police. 

Berezdivin transferred to George Washington University in the fall of 2020, according to a GWU spokeswoman.

The 21-year-old was identified with seven other people in the Twitter post from Miami-Dade Police about bodies recovered, which included the announcement that the body of a 3-year-old was found.

The body of Berezdivin was found on July 7, according to the post.

Berezdivin was part of a close-knit Jewish community in Puerto Rico, according to reporting by El Nuevo Dia. She and her boyfriend were reportedly in Florida to attend the funeral of a family friend who died of COVID in March, according to the Rabbi of the Miami Synagogue that was hosting them.

At the time of the collapse, GWU said they were hopeful that Berezdivin may have survived in some possible way.

The death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area condo building rose to 79 on Friday, a number the mayor called “heartbreaking” as recovery workers toiled for a 16th day to find victims in the rubble. Another 61 people remain unaccounted for.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the work to recover victims was “moving forward with great urgency” in order to bring closure to the families of victims who have spent an agonizing two weeks waiting for news.

“This is a staggering and heartbreaking number that affects all of us very deeply,” Levine Cava said of the latest death toll.

“All those who have passed ... are leaving behind loved ones. They’re leaving behind devastated families. The magnitude of this tragedy is growing each and every day,” she said.

Miami-Dade Police Department posted Friday that it has identified a 3-year-old, Luis Lopez Moreira III, as one of the victims who were recovered this week.

Rescue workers and emergency support teams from Florida and several other states have labored in 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day at the site of the devastated beachfront condominium in Surfside — physically and emotionally taxing work performed amid oppressive heat and in dangerous conditions.

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