SURFSIDE, Florida — Colonel Golan Vach, head of a unit of the Israel Defense Forces that specializes in search and rescue operations, had never seen a disaster zone like the crumbled condo building in Surfside, Florida, in his more than 20 years of military experience.
Vach’s team, the National Rescue Unit, arrived in Miami early on Sunday, three days after Champlain Tower South partially collapsed without warning while people slept early on Thursday.
Once at the site, they found a massive heap of fragmented concrete and mangled metal, with children’s toys and other personal belongings strewn about. In it, they hoped to find and rescue d…
Keep on reading: Israeli commander describes harrowing Florida condo rescue operation