MIAMI — Remains of the last person still listed as missing in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium tower on June 24 have been recovered and identified, bringing the final confirmed death toll to 98, the Miami-Dade County mayor said on Monday (July 26).

Remains of the final victim were found by search teams on July 20, and medical examiners had been working since then to positively identify the victim before making Monday's announcement, officials said.

The Miami-Dade fire department's round-the-clock search for additional victims at the beachfront site of the Champlain Towers South condo, in the Miami suburb of surfside, was demobilised last Friday.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava called the search-and-rescue efforts in Surfside "the largest non-hurricane emergency response in the history of our state."

"Today I can report, because of the sustained heroic efforts, the last remaining missing person has now been accounted for and identified and the family notified," the mayor said.

No further victims were believed to be trapped in the rubble, but police will continue to sift through the debris for additional remains of those who died and for their personal effects to return to loved ones, Ms Levine Cava said.

With recovery of the final known victim, the confirmed death toll from the tragedy stands at 98 to 97 victims killed outright when half the building caved in on itself in the early hours of June 24 as residents slept, and one victim who died while hospitalised. REUTERS