Florida

‘One Unit Over, and I'm Gone': Building Collapse Survivors Detail Close Call With Tragedy

As the search for survivors enters its fifth day, those who escaped are recounting harrowing tales of survival after last week’s condo collapse in Surfside.

Getty Images Albert Aguero describes how his family narrowly survived the Surfside condo collapse.

Steven Rosenthal was asleep in a corner unit of the 12-story Champlain Towers South building that collapsed last Thursday when he heard “the loudest thunderclap times a hundred that I ever heard in my life.” 

A few seconds later, his bed and room began to shake and Rosenthal jumped out of bed to see what was happening.

“I run to the hallway, cloud of dust slams into me. I look and the ceiling’s down, the concrete, the cement," Rosenthal told NBC South Florida. "People were yelling, 'help me, get me out, help me.'"

Firefighters eventually rescued him from his fourth-floor balcony. Rosenthal said it is a “miracle” that he managed to escape because many of his neighbors' apartments were on the L-shaped tower that collapsed.

“One unit over, and I am gone,” Rosenthal added.

As the search for survivors enters its fifth day, those who escaped are recounting harrowing tales of survival after last week’s condo collapse in Surfside. At least 10 people have been confirmed dead, but over 150 are still missing as of Monday afternoon. 

Ofe Osin-Cohen, another fourth-floor resident who escaped, told NBC's "Today" show she was “sound asleep” when she heard a “weird sound” and felt the building shake. Rattled, she got dressed, grabbed some essentials and began the trek out. 

“When I opened the door to my apartment, it leads to a long hallway, and all I saw was debris,” Osin-Cohen told "Today." 

She made her way to a nearby stairwell and tried to exit on the pool deck, but the door was jammed. She then went down to the garage to discover it was flooded with water up to her ankles. Osin-Cohen then returned to her apartment, taking along with her an elderly couple she came across that was also trying to find their way out. Once in her apartment, they made their way to the balcony and flagged down firefighters who rescued them. The whole experience, she told Today, was “really surreal.” 

“Unfortunately, we did hear screams. I don’t even want to think about it,” she said. “I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.” 

Albert Aguero and his family had a similar close call. Aguero, his wife and two children, were visiting South Florida from New Jersey. He said he awoke around 1:15 a.m. to a shaking building and swaying chandeliers. From the balcony of his vacation rental in Unit 1106 — right by the collapsed wing — he said he saw a grey cloud covering the entire building. 

"I looked to my left and half of the apartment is gone, look forward and the elevator shaft is there and there's no elevator, it's just two holes," Aguero told NBC South Florida. "Panic starts to set in, like we need to really run, because I don't know if the rest of it is coming down. We got to the stairwell and when we opened the door, that's when everything really hit, because half the wall to the stairwell was missing, it was kind of open air stairs, so now we're just racing down as fast as possible." 

The family reached the third floor, where they helped a young woman and an elderly resident get to the ground floor. Before sprinting to the beach to safety, Aguero said the group crawled up about three feet of rubble on the first floor and overcame a three-foot gap by the pool. 

"My initial reaction is ‘wow, we were so lucky.’ We talked about it and we say it's about 15 feet that we survived by, if we had been 15 feet to the right, it would have gone down, or half of the apartment would have gone down," Aguero said. "We were just tremendously lucky." 

Dressed in flip-flops and pajamas, Alfredo and Marian Lopez left their home of 22 years after what sounded like a loud crash of thunder woke them from their sixth-floor apartment at the northwest corner of the Champlain Towers South. 

When they opened their door, they saw sky and beach where their neighbor’s doors had once stood. 

“That complete side of the building was not there,” Marian told the Miami Herald. “The apartments were gone.” 

The couple fled down the emergency stairwell, but couldn't open the lobby door. They then descended to the garage where they encountered shin-deep water, ultimately escaping — Alfredo with a woman frozen from shock hoisted over his shoulder — through an opening in a crumbled wall. 

As they stepped onto the beach, Alfredo said he could hear the cries for help coming from the wreckage.

“I could hear people crying and screaming for help,” Lopez told the Herald.

The flooded garage was located underneath the building's pool. Both had been flagged in a 2018 engineering report noting the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix systemic issues with the Champlain Towers South.

The report from the firm of Morabito Consultants said the ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed to be extensively repaired, and uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A “Surfside Strong” sign hangs on a balcony as search and rescue operations continue at the site of the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. Over one hundred people are being reported as missing as search-and-rescue effort continues with rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Fayzah Bushnaq draws out a prayer in the sand near where search and rescue operations continue at the site of the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A man prays near where search and rescue operations continue at the site of the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. The man, overcome with emotion, said he had lost a relative in the collapse.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Maria Fernanda Martinez, Fayzah Bushnaq, and Mariana Cordeiro console each other near the site of a search and rescue operation at the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. The 99 people are being reported as missing as search-and-rescue effort continues with rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Workers use a lift to investigate balconies in the still-standing portion of the building adjacent to where a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, late on Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami.
Gerald Herbert/AP
A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team sprays water onto the rubble as rescue efforts continue where a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, late on Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
In this aerial view, search and rescue personnel work after the partial collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Search and rescue personnel work in the rubble of the 12-story condo tower that crumbled to the ground during a partially collapse of the building on June 24, 2021 in Miami. It is unknown at this time how many people were injured as search-and-rescue effort continues with rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Search and rescue personnel work in the rubble of the 12-story condo tower that crumbled to the ground during a partially collapse of the building on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. It is unknown at this time how many people were injured as search-and-rescue effort continues with rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Luz Marina holds a picture of her aunt, Marina Azen, who she said is missing after the partial collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo tower that she was in on June 24, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. It is unknown at this time how many people were injured as search-and-rescue effort continues with rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
People console each other near the site of a partially collapsed building, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Florida. A wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed with a roar in a town outside Miami early Thursday, trapping residents in rubble and twisted metal.
Marta Lavandier/AP
Rescue workers walk among the rubble where part of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Florida.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Rescue worker walk among the rubble where a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami.
A photo shows flooding on the ground floor of the Champlain Towers after a portion of the 12-story condominium collapsed overnight, June 24, 2021, in Miami, Fla.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Jennifer Carr, right, sits with her daughter as they wait for news at a family reunification center, after a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. Carr and her family were evacuated from a nearby building.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
People lie on cots as they wait for news at a family reunification center, after a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
Household items and debris dangle from a partially collapsed multistory beachfront condo, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Florida.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
A man waits for information after a partial building collapse, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
An approximation of the Champlain Towers condominium before its collapse superimposed over an aerial photo of the site of collapse, June 24, 2021, in Miami. It is still unknown how many people are missing as rescue workers continue to dig through rubble well into the morning.
ReliableNewsMedia
A young boy is pulled out from the rubble, alive, after a condominium partially collapsed early Thursday morning in Miami, Florida, June 24, 2021.
A photo shows the Champlain Towers after a portion of the 12-story condominium collapsed overnight, June 24, 2021, in Miami, Fla.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
Firefighters search a partially collapsed building early Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami, Florida.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
A partially collapsed building is seen early Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami, Florida.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
Bystanders look at a partially collapsed building early Thursday, morning June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami, Florida. A partial building collapse in Miami caused a massive response early Thursday from Miami Dade Fire Rescue, according to a tweet from the department’s account.
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