The seven-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was found dead in the rubble of a collapsed apartment block as the death toll rose to 20, officials confirmed.
A rescue mission is entering its ninth day after the The Champlain Towers South building in Surfside crumpled to the ground.
The Miami-Dade county mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said the emergency services had been badly hit by the latest grim discovery.
She said: “It goes without saying that every night has been immensely difficult for everybody and particularly the families who have been impacted. “But last night was uniquely different. It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders.
“These men and women are paying an enormous human toll each and every day, and I ask that all of you please keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers.”
Two bodies were recovered overnight, including the young girl.
The mayor said that the number of unaccounted for stood at 128, down from the previous figure of 145.
She added: “When the detectives were able to reach and verify the safety of a person in question, we discovered that there were several family members who could have been potentially in the building and now we can mark them as safe.
“This is very, very good news. That’s 188 people accounted for.”
The Champlain Towers South partially collapsed in the Miami suburb of Surfside in the early hours of last Thursday.
The cause of the collapse remains unknown and elected officials have vowed to conduct several investigations.
