SURFSIDE, FLORIDA: Tragedy continued to unfold as the death toll from the partial collapse of a condominium building in Surfside in Miami-Dade County climbed to nine on Sunday, June 27. More than 150 people still remain unaccounted for at the Champlain Towers South condominium where the incident occurred in the early hours of June 24. And among the missing is Nicole Langsfeld, whose relatives took matters into their own hands. The following events were hearbreaking.

CNN’s Faith Karimi tweeted, “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.” No one answered.

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Missing along with Langsfeld is her husband Luis Sadovnic. Friends of the couple also informed where they last could have been prior to the collapse. “Nicky Langsfeld and Luis Sadovnic are also being sought by their friends. They should’ve been on the 8th floor,” one person tweeted sharing an Instagram Stories screenshot.

Karimi later tweeted more details about Langsfeld. “Nicole ‘Nicky’ and her husband, Luis, are among the people missing in the Surfside collapse. ‘She was funny and smart and loved animals — all sorts of animals,’ her uncle said. ‘She would have moved an elephant into that condo if she could’,” she wrote. 

When a Twitter user responded with, “That means there’s likely missing pets for them as well,” Karimi informed, “Nicole had a puppy, Zoe, and a guinea pig. Luckily, her pup was with her brother that day and is safe and unharmed. The family doesn't know where her guinea pig is.”

Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said rescuers are still hoping to find survivors waiting to be saved in crevices and voids in the pile of concrete, twisted metal, and personal belongings. "Hope. That's what I'm focused on," Cominsky said. "We're going to continue moving and searching as hard as we can and for as long as we can until we have to make that decision."

As per news reports, three years before the deadly collapse, a concrete slab that the building was resting on had “major structural damage” and needed extensive repair. A consultant engineer called Frank Morabito wrote about damage near the base of the building as part of his October 2018 report. Morabito’s report found “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the building.

The damage was probably caused by persistent water leaks and years of exposure to the corrosive salt air along the South Florida coast. “Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” Morabito wrote in the report. However, he gave no indication that the structure was at risk of collapse. What he did say was the building needed repairs aimed at maintaining its “structural integrity”.

Disclaimer : This is based on sources and we have been unable to verify this information independently.