US President Joe Biden said that the victims of the Florida building collapse and their family members will be receiving assistance from the authorities in terms of expediting visas of family members of those affected and providing housing assistance.

Biden spoke in Florida’s Surfside area on Thursday after interacting with the survivors of the incident, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 18 people, including two children.

The US State Department will be giving expedited visas to the family members of the people impacted by the incident while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be responsible to cater to the victims’ housing needs.

The President, who was visiting the site with his wife and US First Lady Jill Biden, backed the investigation launched by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) a day before his visit.

The primary objective of the investigation by the NIST will be to narrow down on the technical reasons which could have triggered the collapse of the Champlain Towers in Miami-Dade County.  The federal body will then make suitable recommendations.

When asked if Biden had any intel on what caused the accident, he said that the authorities “do not have any firm proof of what happened”. In the pretext of the reason of the collapse, Biden cited a conversation with a survivor who told him that the building (Champlain Towers) used to shake when someone used a drilling machine across the road.

Biden said, “What amazed me about this group of people was the resilience and their absolute commitment to do whatever it took to find an answer.”

When asked about the possibility of pulling out someone alive from the rubble Biden started off by saying that “the families were realistic” and were aware that “the chances diminish as days go by”.

Biden was later scheduled to meet Flordia Governor Ron DeSantis.