A mom and her wheelchair-bound son were among those declared dead in the Florida condo collapse, while two little girls and a prominent plastic surgeon are among the 151 people still unaccounted for, kin said — as the family of a missing student screamed her name at the scene hoping she might hear them.
Luis Bermúdez, 26, who suffered from muscular dystrophy, lived on the seventh floor of Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside and was identified as among the 10 confirmed dead, along with his mother, Ana Ortiz, 46, the Miami Herald said.
Still missing are Ortiz’s newlywed husband, Frankie Kleiman, and Frankie’s mother, Nancy Kress Levin, and his brother Jay Kleiman, who was visiting from Puerto Rico.
“God decided that he wanted one more angel in heaven,’’ Luis’s grieving father, also named Luis Bermúdez, wrote on Facebook.
Five members of another family, including a 7-year-old girl, are still missing, the outlet said.
Single mom Graciela Cattarossi, 48, her daughter, Stella, 7, her parents, Graciela and Gino, and her sister Andrea, who was visiting at the time, remain unaccounted for, the Herald said.
“Her devotion to her child was unparalleled,” Cattarossi’s friend, Kathryn Rooney Vera, of Miami told the news outlet.
The Uruguayan consul confirmed that Cattarossi’s mother is a Uruguayan national and was a diplomat in the country in the late 1960s, according to the Herald.
“She worked hard for everything she had, and she was so generous,” Vera said of Cattarossi, adding that she was “down to earth” and “a little bit Bohemian.
“She loved everything we stand for,” Vera said, referring to Cattarossi’s appreciation for the US. “She used to say, ‘Americans must understand what they have and hang on to it and fight for their freedom.’ She just loved the essence of America.”
The pal said she wondered if Cattarossi had a chance to pull her daughter close amid the catastrophe.
“I hope she put her arms around her little girl,” she said.
Meanwhile, the relatives of missing student Nicole Langsfeld took turns screaming her name at the tragic site Sunday in the hopes that she might hear them.
Langsfeld and her husband, Luis Sadovnic, “are missing following the tragic events there and we are praying and hopeful for their rescue and safety,” according to a statement on GoFundMe.
CNN reporter Faith Karimi wrote on Twitter: “Some relatives of those missing in Surfside were allowed to visit the collapse site this afternoon. (The area is cordoned off).
“Nicole Langsfeld’s uncle told me when they got there, they took turns screaming out her name, hoping she’d hear them beneath the rubble,” she added.
Others still missing include Andrés Galfrascoli, a 45-year-old plastic surgeon from Argentina, his 55-year-old partner, Fabián Nuñez, and their 6-year-old adopted daughter, Sofía, who were reportedly visiting a friend in unit 803 for one night.
The couple — who had come to Florida for about three months to escape the worsening COVID-19 pandemic back home — had previously been staying with longtime friend Nicolás Patoka in Hollywood, Fla., some 40 minutes north of Champlain Towers, the Herald reported.
Pakota offered his friends his apartment in Surfside to allow them to take Sofia to the condo’s private beach. He told Argentinian newspaper Clarín that the decision haunts him.
“I wish we had told them no,” an emotional Patoka said, the Herald reported. “They weren’t just friends, they were family.”
Núñez is a well-known theater producer whose social circle includes Argentinian celebrities like TV actor Nicolás Vázquez and ballet dancer Flavio Mendoza, according to the report.
Galfrascoli is a prominent plastic surgeon who is close friends with Fabiola Yañez, the current first lady of Argentina.
“He was just the best person,” Alicia Aguilar de Caba, one of his patients, told the Herald.
Even though he had famous clients, he was always kind to his patients regardless of how much they could afford, she said.
“During our appointments, he’d never miss a chance to laugh and joke with me about Corrientes, where my husband is also from,” said de Caba, adding that Galfrascolialso always spoke about his family during appointments, especially his daughter.
“That girl was their dream,” Pakota told the Clarín. “They are such humble and good people who never had anything in life handed to them.
“It would be impossible to explain how much they had to fight to have their little angel, and now she’s also missing.”
Others identified as among the nine dead also were mourned, including Manuel “Manny” LaFont, 54, who owned a condo on the eighth floor of the doomed tower.
Danny Berry, director of Miami Beach Youth Baseball League, told the Miami Herald that LaFont, a business consultant, spent most afternoons playing ball with his 10-year-old son, Santi.
“They were out there until the lights went out,” Berry told the paper.
His ex-wife, Adriana LaFont, picked up Santi and their 13-year-old daughter on Wednesday night, hours before the deadly collapse, the Herald reported.
Adriana asked her Facebook friends to pray and posted pictures of her family from their years together at the Champlain.
”So many memories inside the walls that are no more today, forever engraved experiences in the heart,” she wrote.
LaFont had just started a new job after being out of work during most of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was hoping when I heard the news, he was out of town,” Berry told the Herald. “I called his cellphone. It went to voicemail.”
The dead disabled man, Luis Bermúdez, was an artist who also owned a clothing business, his family said.
He had trouble using his hands and fingers, but he persevered, they said.
“I still do not believe it. I LOVE you and will love you forever,” his father wrote on Facebook.
The grieving dad shared a photograph of himself embracing his son as his child smiled at the camera, saying it was one of the most beautiful images they had together.
“My Luiyo. You gave me everything,” he wrote on the back of the photo. “I will miss you all my life…I will never leave you alone.”
Bermúdez’s aunt Magui said: “Taking care of us from heaven! Fly high my warrior!!!”
