Family of missing Florida couple got 16 calls from them — and heard only static
Family and friends of the more than 150 people still missing in the tragic Miami condo collapse are desperately waiting for news of their loved ones as rescue workers continue to sift through the rubble and debris at the site.
Since the collapse of the 12-story apartment building early Thursday morning in Surfside, Florida, outside Miami, just nine people have been confirmed dead, and over 150 are still unaccounted for, according to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
Dozens of those missing are members of Surfside’s active Jewish community, according to the rabbi of the nearby synagogue. Some of their relatives have spoken to the media about their difficult experiences.
Jake Samuelson, the grandson of Arnie and Myriam Caspi Notkin, who lived in the building and are still missing, told the WPLG Local 10 news network that his family had received 16 calls from his grandparents’ phone line since the building’s collapse.
But on the other end of the line was just static.
“We were all sitting there in the living room, my whole family, Diane, my mother, and we were just shocked and we kind of thought nothing of it because we answered, and it was static,” Samuelson told WPLG of the first call that arrived Thursday evening.
“We are trying to rationalize what is happening here, we are trying to get answers,” Samuelson said. He told the news outlet that the family has not received any calls since Friday evening, and they are desperate for answers about the beloved couple.
Fortuna Smukler, a family friend of the Notkins, told The Associated Press that they are praying for a miracle. Smukler said Myriam, 81, and Arnie, 87, got married about 20 years ago after losing their spouses.
“They were a happy couple. We’re hoping for a miracle,” said Smukler. “Every time Myriam would see me, she always had to make a point of saying how wonderful my mother was,” she said. “She was very thoughtful.”
Tzvi and Ingrid “Itty” Ainsworth, who are still unaccounted for following the collapse, moved to South Florida to be near their children and were celebrating the recent birth of two grandchildren.
Their son in South Africa recently had a baby and their son in Florida had a baby just days ago, their niece Chana Harrel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The couple had seven children and many live in South Florida, including their daughter just blocks away, Harrel said.
Itty’s mother, a Holocaust survivor living in Miami Beach, is battling cancer and doesn’t know about the tragedy.
“They didn’t tell her. She’s not well,” Harrel said. “It’s absolutely horrific.”
Brad and Gary Cohen, brothers who are both medical doctors, are also considered missing in the tragedy.
“We need every bit of help we can get. This is the difference between life and death for so many people including possibly my husband if he’s still alive,” Soriya Cohen, Brad’s wife, told CBS News 4 on Thursday as she stood outside the site of the collapse for hours.
Gary, a physician at Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center in Alabama, was also active in his local synagogue there.
“He spent many years providing care to our Veterans. He is part of the Tuscaloosa VAMC family and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this incredibly difficult time,” according to a statement from John Merkle, director of the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center.
David and Bonnie Epstein lived in unit 901 in the Surfside building with their dog Chase, said Bonnie’s cousin Joey Feldman.
David was a retired successful real estate investor who loved to jet ski and kite surf. The couple have a son who lives in New York.
“Bonnie was like my sister growing up,” said Feldman, who lives in Los Angeles. “She took me to my first concert.” He said he is devastated but is praying for a miracle. “I am holding out hope,” he said. “I came into work to get my mind off of it. But no sleep.”
Ilan Naibryf and his girlfriend, Deborah Berezdivin, were staying in the building to attend the funeral of a friend who had died of COVID-19, Naibryf’s parents told CNN.
Naibryf, a student at the University of Chicago, was active in the campus’s Jewish community said Rabbi Yossi Brackman of the school’s Rohr Chabad. Naibryf served as the president of the Chabad House’s student board for the past year.
“He is a really great guy, very friendly, always has a smile on his face and is just a really all-around well-liked person,” Brackman said.
Berezdivin is a student at George Washington University and related to the Jewish Puerto Rican-Cuban Kleiman family, many of whom are also missing after the building collapse.
Brackman said the Rohr Chabad community is distraught but hopeful.
“Our message is one of hope and we encourage everyone to pray and be kind at this difficult time for many people,” he said. “We believe in miracles, seen them and hope to see them again.”
Jay Kleiman was staying at the condo with his mother, Nancy Kress Levin, down the hall from his brother Frankie and newlywed wife, Ana Ortiz, and her adult son, Luis, according to the Miami Herald.
The family “kept close ties both to Miami’s Cuban-Jewish community and Puerto Rico’s Jewish community,” said the newspaper. All five are considered missing and unaccounted for.
Rachel and Josh Spiegel are still waiting for news of their mom, Judy Spiegel, who lived on the sixth floor of the condo complex. Their dad, who was traveling in California at the time of the collapse, is safe.
“I just want to give my mom a hug and tell her I love her, and I know she knows that,” Rachel told CBS New York.