Building collapse in Florida: 10 dead, Russian-speaking among missing

On June 24, a 12-story residential building collapsed in Miami, Florida. The search for survivors continues. According to the latest data, 35 people were rescued, the bodies of 10 victims were found, and another 151 residents of the house are considered missing.

Second chance

The family told To the Voice of America, how they got out of the house.

“It feels like you've been given a second chance. I'm happy that we all survived. Everything could have turned out differently if we were 5 meters further. That was the difference between our apartment and the one next door,” says Alberto Aguero.

“My son says he heard three distinct sounds. The first one was minor. The second one shook the balcony doors, we thought it was a strong thunderstorm,” he adds. - And then the third - the sound of a strong explosion. It made us all wake up. Everything started shaking."

“I don’t think we realized what was going on until we got out into the hallway,” Justin Willis said. — We turned to where the elevator should be and realized that there was no apartment next to us. There was a doorway left and the ocean was visible. The elevator shaft had disappeared, and its doors were lying on the floor.”

“When we got to about the third floor, we saw an elderly woman. She needed help. My son and I helped her down to the first floor. But when we went down there, we saw that the floor had partially collapsed, and we had to make our way through the rubble,” says Aguero.

“We are grateful for the information from the Red Cross and city departments. We are grateful to all the people who work day and night,” said Janet Aguero.

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Albert Aguero and his family were on vacation. They were in Albert's parents' apartment on the 11th floor of the building.

Rescue work

It was confirmed that ten people died, nine of them were removed from the rubble. Another died in hospital, writes USA Today.

Accompanied by dogs trained to locate people, the searchers dug a trench 40 feet (12 m) deep. The trench provided access to new parts of the building, Miami-Dade County officials said.

“As a result, we were able to find four more bodies in the rubble,” said District Mayor Danielle Levine-Cava.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said rescue efforts are progressing slowly, in part because the wreckage of the 136-apartment building itself has “forensic” value and is being moved to a warehouse to investigate the cause of the collapse.

“They're looking for voids where they could potentially save someone,” DeSantis said. “Obviously there will still be a lot of large debris.”

Authorities said they have sufficient personnel to maximize search efforts while respecting security requirements. They said sending too many search engines to the area could result in more collapses, putting survivors at risk.

Miami Beach declared a state of emergency on Sunday, June 27, making it easier to get more help. US President Joe Biden declared the collapse a disaster, which gave access to federal aid.

A team of Israeli search and rescue specialists joined forces to find survivors and recover bodies from the scene. The team members are experts in engineering and social protection. On June 27, they arrived at the scene to join the search. Authorities have conducted DNA testing on relatives to help identify the bodies.

According to the Consul General of Israel in Miami, Maor Elbaz-Starinski, many of those who were in the partially destroyed building of Champlain Towers South were Jews, as were 35 of the missing.

Steve Aseltin, an urban search and rescue expert based in Colorado, said such searches are painstakingly slow because of the great danger.

“You not only punch and cut as you go, but you also have to strengthen what is left. And you're trying to work in tiny trenches,” Aseltine told one of the city's 28 search and rescue teams. “Everything that was in the building is still there, but it has been crushed and damaged.” This includes food, chemicals, wires. Anything in your home becomes a danger to rescuers.”

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“There are fires that happen; This ultimately causes the metal to expand, the concrete to expand, and smoke to form. But they also have a chance of mitigating building collapse,” said Jimmy Patronis, Florida fire chief.

Rescuers “try to work as fast as they can, while at the same time looking after the safety and well-being of those who are doing the job of saving the lives of others. It's a really delicate process. "

Patronis said search and rescue teams from across Florida and from Mexico have joined the effort. The teams worked 12 hours a day at high temperatures and occasional rainstorms.

“These crews work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because they know that if someone is potentially alive, they can be found within a limited time,” Aseltine said. “These crews are out there risking a lot to save people, and they are doing everything in their power to help those families and people who are potentially still trapped in that building.”

The smell of burnt electrical wiring can be heard from the building along the nearby streets, although it is eerily quiet. The audience is kept away from a place where dust fills the air in between showers.

Eric D'Mura, who has lived in the building for three years, said that a night swim in the ocean probably saved his life. D'Mura said he had visited his girlfriend earlier in the day and decided to take a dip in the ocean before heading home. She convinced him to go back inside and dry his clothes, they both fell asleep shortly before the collapse. He woke up and started receiving messages from friends who recognized the building on his social media posts.

“This is a tragedy. We lived with these people. We saw each other in the elevator in the morning or at night. Sometimes I would help move the box and those people would be dead,” D’Moura said.

The building was built in 1981. Authorities said it was unclear why it collapsed, but researchers and engineers cited a variety of reasons, including rising sea levels, the corrosive effects of salt water, the stability of the ground beneath, poor construction, or poor control.

The building has a twin, Champlain Towers North, which was built at the same time by the same developer, about 100 yards (91 m) away, Sarfside Mayor Charles Burkett said Saturday. Burkett has ordered an inspection of the second building and is considering relocating residents.

“I know that the same building collapsed for some unexplained reason,” Burkett said. “Buildings in the United States don’t just collapse.” There was something very, very wrong going on in this building and we have to find out.”

Dead

Among those killed in the disaster were 83-year-old Antonio Lozano and 79-year-old Gladys Lozano, a married couple who were about to celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary. The couple, both Cuban immigrants, had dinner with their son Sergio Lozano a few hours before the crash. If there is any consolation in their death, he said, it is that they "left together and left quickly."

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Others identified as dead include local residents Manual LaFont, 54, Stacy Fung, 54; Leon Olivkovic, 80 years old; Cristina Beatriz Elvira, 74, Luis Bermudez, 26; and Anna Ortiz, 46.

Missing

The list of missing people included a Russian-speaking immigrant and his wife, Ruslan and Nicole Manashirov. They moved into an apartment on the seventh floor just two months ago after their wedding, writes USA Today.

Family members say that Ruslan Manashirov grew up in Bergen Beach (New York) and worked as a doctor, writes Connecticut News12.

Manashirov’s sister Valerie said that she watched in horror the television broadcast of the collapsed building. “I just couldn’t believe it and it was like a bad dream,” she said. According to her, her parents went to Florida to await further news, writes Gothamist.

At least 35 Jews are also among the missing, including some with Israeli citizenship, Israel's Consul General in Miami, Maor Elbaz-Starinskiy, said. According to him, no family has filed any reports of missing persons with the consulate, but Israel sent rescue teams to help with the search.

The local Jewish community from a nearby synagogue brought lunch to the injured and the families of the missing. Dozens and dozens of pizza boxes sat on tables next to large aluminum trays filled with falafel, cucumber and tomato salad, and red cabbage salad.

“The outpouring of support has been incredible. Never, never, never in my life or in the countries where I have lived have I experienced the generosity of the South Florida Jewish community,” Ronit Felsser, whose 21-year-old son Ilan Nybrief is missing, wrote on Facebook. “I think we have enough food for the whole month.”

Shul Jewish Community Center put up a sign offering food, phone chargers, blankets and clothing. They asked people to contact them if they needed a place to dine.

“Today will be a difficult Shabbat for those who are waiting for news,” the center wrote.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• June 24 in Miami-Dade County (Florida) partially a 12-storey building collapsed.
• According to a 2020 study by Shimon Wdowinski, Professor of the Department of Earth and Environment, the building, built in 1981, has plunged into the ground at an alarming rate since the 1990s.

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