Relatives of a grandparent couple who resided in the Chaplain Towerds South complex, which collapsed on June 24 in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, assured that, in the three days after the tragedy, they received 31 calls from the landline of the apartment where they both lived on the third floor of the damaged building.
Then came silence and thousands of questions about the whereabouts of Arnie Y Myriam Notkin, who lived in apartment 302 of the luxury condominium that collapsed last Thursday and caused at least 11 deaths and 150 missing, according to the latest official report.
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The Notkin are of Israeli nationality and make up that list of people wanted day and night by hundreds of rescuers, in a fact that has caused a deep commotion in Miami and in the state of Florida in general.
The story was revealed by the Hispanic network Univision. The calls They only stopped on Sunday, three days after the tragedy. Since then nothing has been known.
Interference and silence
The couple’s grandson, Jake Samuelson, said they were surprised and hopeful when they received each of the phone calls. In total there were 31, he said.
However, he said that when responding to each of the contacts only interference sounds were heard. He could never identify if the caller was one of his grandparents.
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“Having hope is good, but you have to prepare for what may come“, said to Univision Battia Jaffe, director of the canine psychotrauma unit at United Hatzalah, an Israeli nonprofit emergency medical service.
The Notkin they led a peaceful life in the exclusive condominium in the city of Surfside, north of Miami Beach, facing the sea.
Both defined themselves as proud Jews and Cubans. The couple had lived in Cuba in the 1950s, before the triumph of the Fidel Castro revolution. So they chose to move to Florida, as did tens of thousands of people on the island.
In the midst of a pandemic, their grandchildren and other family members had surprised them on Arnie’s birthday. With strict respect for the restriction measures in force then, on May 3, 2020, the man leaned out from the third-floor balcony along with his wife.
Below, his friends and family congratulated him with a banner wishing him a happy birthday and read: “We love you”. Now his family clings to a hope.
