The president offered comfort to victims and praise for emergency responders.

It’s been about a week since the sudden collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida. Emergency workers have been searching for survivors almost nonstop since then while local experts have attempted to determine the precise cause of the disaster. As of writing, 14 people have been confirmed dead, while 140 are still missing.

President Joe Biden visited the site of the disaster to speak to both the survivors of the collapse, as well as the emergency responders, offering consolation and praise, respectively.

“All those folks are risking their lives to save lives, but also holding out hope that those will be found. Hope springs eternal,” the president said.

The President stayed at the site for approximately three hours, sitting and talking with anyone who wanted to speak with him. As Biden himself has lost family to sudden disasters, he said he related to their grief.

“They’re praying and pleading, that God, let there be a miracle. Let there be something happen with me that’s good. Because I have like many of you do, some idea what it’s like to suffer that kind of loss that so many of them are suffering,” the president said.

Officials have been taking affected families to visit the search site to recover belongings and see the full scope of the damage. While they are trying to hold out hope for their missing friends and family, many are keeping their expectations realistic.

“They know that the chances are, as each day goes by, diminished slightly,” the president said. “But at a minimum, at a minimum, they want to recover the bodies.”

Biden said that the federal government is willing to cover the costs of the search for the next month. He also gathered a group of emergency responder representatives, offering each and every one his heartfelt thanks for their efforts.

“What you’re doing is incredible,” he said.