Recovery teams have found 24 bodies in the charred ruins of an Oakland, California loft building after a fire broke out during a weekend dance party, and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said on Sunday.
Sergeant Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, said two dozen bodies were located as authorities sifted through the debris-filled shell of the two-story building, which was used by an artists' collective.
He said the death toll would likely rise in what fire officials called the deadliest blaze in the city's history.
Only 20 percent of the building had been searched in the past 12 hours, said Melinda Drayton, battalion chief at the Oakland Fire Department.
Firefighters have gone through the building searching the debris, “bucket by bucket," Drayton told a news conference on Sunday morning.
“It was quiet, it was heartbreaking,” she said. “This will be a long and arduous process."
Authorities said on Saturday that nine bodies were initially discovered inside the shell of the structure and that about 25 people were believed to be missing. On Sunday, officials did not update the number of people who were not accounted for.
The fire erupted at about 11:30 p.m. PST on Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) during the party featuring electronic dance music that dozens of people attended.
The recovery operation and investigation into how the blaze started had been delayed for hours until workers could enter safely on Saturday evening.
The roof had collapsed into the second floor and in some spots, the second story had fallen into the first.
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