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People from more than a dozen countries are among those missing in the Florida condo collapse

Jun 26, 2021, 13:02 IST
Insider
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel continue search and rescue operations in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
  • As of Friday evening, 159 people were still unaccounted for in the Florida condo collapse.
  • Those missing came from at least a dozen countries.
  • Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said his office was working to get visas for relatives to enter the US.
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People from more than a dozen countries are among the 159 missing after the Florida condo collapse, The New York Times reported on Friday.

A part of the Champlain Towers South, located on Collins Avenue in Surfside, Florida, collapsed just after 1 a.m. on Thursday.

Police said at least four people have died and 159 are still unaccounted for as of Friday night. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said emergency visas are being approved for close relatives of those missing in the collapse. According to Rubio, the requests are coming in from over a dozen countries.

Rubio's office did not immediately respond to Insider's email request for comment.

The Times reported one person among the missing is a woman from Paraguay who was on her first international trip.

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  • Leidy Vanessa Luna Villalba, 23, traveled from Paraguay to work as a nanny for relatives of Paraguay's first lady, Silvana Abdo, The Times reported. Abdo is also in Miami searching for her sister Sophia López Moreira, and Moreira's husband, Luis Pettengill, in addition to the couple's three young children - all of whom are among those missing, Reuters reported.
  • Fabián Nuñez, 55, Andrés Galfrascoli, 45, and their 6-year-old daughter, Sofia, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, had arrived at their unit in the building just hours before the collapse, The Times reported.
  • Luis Barth, his wife, Catalina Gomez, 46, and their 14-year-old daughter Valeria were vacationing in the US from Colombia. Their plan was to get vaccinated and visit family. The family had been staying with one of Barth's friends in the building for a month, but had plans to continue with their trip, the Miami Herald reported.

Barth's brother Sergio Barth told the Miami Herald, the family was supposed to leave the apartment on Thursday afternoon.

"That's a God thing," Sergio Barth told The Times, adding that he had repeatedly called the family's cellphones but couldn't reach them. "It's really hard for us to understand and explain."

Many others who are missing were from Latin American countries including Chile, as well as Puerto Rico, the Miami Herald reported.

The race to find those still missing has become an international effort with rescuers from Mexico and Israel joining the mission, WSVN's Frank Guzman reported.

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