Miami building collapse: Relatives face agonising wait for news

Anguished families face an agonising wait for information about their loved ones following the Miami building collapse last Thursday.

Nine people have been confirmed dead and 152 people are still missing.

On Sunday, a number of relatives were taken to the site, some shouting the names of their missing family members in the hope of getting a response.

Those missing include a devoted grandmother, a beloved teacher and the sister of Paraguay’s first lady.

The search for survivors has been slow at the Champlain Tower apartment complex, as rescuers sort through the rubble in sweltering heat and high humidity.

Relatives called on authorities to do more during a meeting over the weekend.

“It’s not enough. Imagine if your children were in there,” one mother told officials.

Here is what we know about some of those who have died, and some of those who are still missing.

Antonio Lozano, 83, and his wife Gladys, 79, are among those confirmed dead after their son Sergio Lozano gave officials a DNA sample.

They were about to celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary in July and had known each other for more than 60 years.

The couple used to joke that neither wanted the other one to die first, because they did not want to be apart from each other.

Mr Lozano could see his parent’s apartment from his own home and heard the crash of the collapse. When he ran to the window, he could no longer see their apartment.

He told reporters that he took some comfort in the knowledge that they “went together and went quickly”.

Manuel LaFont, 54, lived on the eighth floor of the building and has also been confirmed dead.

Mr LaFont’s two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, had been spending time with him that day, but were picked up by their mother – Mr LaFont’s ex-wife – just hours before the collapse.

He would often be found playing baseball with his young son, the Miami Herald reports.

Danny Berry, director of the Miami Beach Youth Baseball League, told the paper that “they were out there [playing baseball] until the lights went out”.

The first victim to be officially named was Stacie Fang, whose 15-year-old son, Jonah Handler, was rescued from the rubble hours after the collapse.

According to US media, Ms Fang was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center on Thursday. Her funeral is due to take place on Sunday in New Jersey, NBC6 reported.

In a statement, her family expressed thanks for the outpouring of sympathy and support they had received.

“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,” it read.

Rescuers on Sunday said they are searching “every bit of hope” as the hunt for survivors continues.

Among those missing are Bhavna Patel, a 38-year-old British and US citizen, her husband Vishal Patel, 42, and their one-year-old daughter, Aishani.

In a tweet a relative, Sarina Patel, confirmed her family members were yet to be found. Bhavna is pregnant, the tweet says.

Vishal’s cousin Robin told Sky News that he had spoken with him the night before the building collapse.

“Aishani had just started to grow her first set of bottom teeth, her preference for teething was actually the stick from a xylophone toy. And Bhavna was pregnant so we were talking about that and arranging a family reunion,” he told Sky News.

Umma Kannayan is a family friend of the Patels. She told the BBC’s Will Grant that they were a “very loving” family who were closely involved in their religious community.

“Aishani was like the little baby of the temple,” she said. “It feels like you’ve lost a part of yourself.”

Ms Kannayan said she was waiting with the Patel family’s relatives for news, but that “not much information has been shared” about the victims.

The sister of Paraguay’s first lady, Silvana López Moreira, is among those yet to be found.

Sophia López Moreira lived with her husband, Luis Pettengill, and their three children in the building.

The first lady has travelled to Florida to be with her family amid the ongoing search.

Their nanny, Leidy Luna Villalba, is also missing. She had only just arrived in Miami on Wednesday – hours before the building collapsed. It was her first time travelling outside of Paraguay.

She had messaged her cousin when she arrived, telling him she was excited to explore the city.

Her mother, Juana de Villalba, told media in Paraguay: “She’s the primary breadwinner of our family and she went to Miami for work. She went for us. My heart is broken”.

Michael Noreiga’s 92-year-old grandmother Hilda is yet to be found. He described her as “larger than life” and “92 years old going on 62”.

“She is probably the most popular person that I know – tonnes of friends. She lives for her faith first, her family second and her friends third and she is so full of life, especially for her family,” he told CNN.

After the collapse, Mr Noreiga rushed to the scene with his parents.

“There was debris everywhere and my father, an hour or two after we got there, stepped on something and looked down and it happened to be a birthday card that was given to her by some of her friends a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

Shortly after, they found two of her pictures. “They were beautiful to find,” Mr Noreiga said.

Brad Cohen, 51, is one of several members of the Jewish community who remain missing. It is thought at least 34 of those unaccounted for are Jewish, a local synagogue told journalists.

He was in the building with his brother-in-law at the time of the collapse.

“The hardest thing has been seeing the devastation of my 12-year-old daughter, she is very close to her father,” Brad’s wife, Soraya Cohen, told the BBC.

She told ABC News that she did not have hope that her husband would survive.

“Just look at that rubble,” she said.

The disappearance of one Jewish couple prompted an emotional reaction on social media.

Several people have queried the whereabouts of Myriam Caspi Notkin and Arnie Notkin, an elderly couple who lived on the third floor of the collapsed building.

They married about 20 years ago after losing their spouses.

Speaking to the Miami Herald newspaper, Fortuna Smukler said Mr Notkin is a beloved member of the community.

Ms Smukler said Mr Notkin taught physical education (PE) at a local primary school in South Beach for years, and is remembered by many students.

“He was such a well-liked PE teacher from people’s past,” she said. “Everyone’s been posting, ‘Oh my god, he was my coach’.”

Ms Smukler said he always had stories to tell.

“He had students who became famous, and he had to tell me about them, how they were good or mischievous,” she said.

Magaly Ramsey received a call from her mother, Magaly Delgado, the night before the collapse.

“My mother called me at around 10 o’clock on Wednesday night, but I was at a conference and I couldn’t answer her,” Ms Ramsey told the BBC.

I’ll call her tomorrow, she thought. Since then, however, she has not heard from her mother, an 80-year-old of Cuban origin.

“The most difficult thing is not having information,” Ms Ramsey said.

She added that her mother had been concerned about shaking from nearby construction work.

“When the other building beside it, which is relatively new, was being built, she did complain of a lot of tremors and things… she sometimes was concerned about what may be happening to her building,” she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Kevin Spiegel was on a business trip in California when he heard about the collapse. He and his wife Judy, 66, had lived in an apartment on the sixth floor for more than four years.

Mrs Spiegel’s daughter, Rachel, was last in contact with her mother the night before, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper said Judy had texted her to say that she had finally found the Disney dress that her four-year-old granddaughter wanted.

A devoted grandmother, Judy had been helping with picking up the children from school, Rachel said.

“My mum is just the best person in the world. She is so caring and loving,” Rachel told CNN.

She added that her young daughter had been asking if her grandmother had been found yet.

“We’re very hopeful that the community here will be able to find our loved ones,” Judy’s son Josh Spiegel told CNN.