The completion of the federal probe into the Surfside apartment collapse has been delayed until 2026

A long-awaited federal report into the causes of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse, which killed 98 people in 2021 and changed Florida’s condo regulations and market, will have to wait at least another year.

Officials at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the US Commerce Department, said in a presentation this month that its investigation has encountered multiple delays and complications and will not be completed until 2026, a year later than expected .

The problems include the fact that a member of the investigative team that examined underground conditions left the team, the Miami Herald reported. Interviews with witnesses were cut off around the June anniversary out of respect for the victims’ families; and access to government records has been a struggle, NIST said, according to the paper.

Testing the concrete and structural connectors from the demolished high-rise was also a long and challenging process, officials said, and involves simulating corrosion over time.

Investigations into other major building failures in the US have taken up to six years. More than $33 million was spent on the Surfside investigation, the Herald noted.

The NIST presentation notes that the analysis looks at more than 300 potential points of structural failure; 20,000 records; and thousands of litigation documents. Approximately 1,080 tests of structural materials have been completed and more than 100 tests on soil, rock, foundation and groundwater samples have been completed or are still in progress.

Photo: Debris from the Champlain Towers South Condo on June 25, 2021, in Surfside. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)