The drama of another Argentinian family among the missing in the Miami tragedy

The debris removal work continues uninterrupted, but there is still no news of the 9 missing Argentines. This Friday it was confirmed the identity of a family of five compatriots who lived in apartment 501, in the south wing of the Champlain Tower complex which collapsed Thursday.

These are the photographer Graciela Cattarossi, her 7-year-old daughter Estela, her sister Andrea, her father and mother, and everything indicates that at that time they were sleeping in that house in Surfside.

This family joins the couple whose identity was first transcended, the Argentines Andrés Galfrascoli, 44 years old; Fabián Núñez, 55, and Sofía Galfrascoli Nuñez, 5, their daughter, who lived in the building and who also remain without traces. In addition to these families, there is said to be a 22-year-old boy and a 27-year-old girl among the missing.

To Mariela Porras his voice is shaking when you speak to this correspondent. The Nicaraguan woman is desperately looking for her Argentinian friend Graciela and her daughter Estela, who was with her parents and sister on Thursday’s fateful dawn in Miami.

Mariela didn’t get a response when she woke up and called her friend, 48, who lived with her daughter and parents Gino and Graciela on the 5th floor at 7 a.m. The hours pass and great anguish grows to know what happened to them.

“I texted him and haven’t heard from him. I tried to contact her, but she goes straight to the answering machine. I no longer know his relatives here. Here he lived with his granddaughter, Estelita, and the parents who are older ”. There was also Graciela’s sister, Andrea, who is an architect and apparently she had traveled from Argentina and was staying with her family in Surfside. The last time Mariela, 40, spoke to him was last weekend.

“I have great regret in my heart,” he said to Bugle. He says he met Graciela 4 years ago because they had a lawyer in common following a problem with the father of their respective children.

“We met on this road and we became good friends. We supported each other emotionally, ”he says. Argentina had lived in Miami for “a long time” and her daughter was born in this city.

Gabriela is a professional photographer. According to the slogan of its website, the clients for which it works are major companies and publishers. Among other publications he worked for the New York Times and for magazines Condé Nast Traveler Yes Vanity Show. In addition, he produced advertising photographs for the Four Seasons and Fasano hotels, as well as for the Bank of America.

Mariela, who has lived in Miami since the age of 3, says she has been to the Chaplain Towers condominium several times and that they were in the pool with their children, who were also friends. Graciela recently celebrated Estela’s birthday and hosted a picnic on the building’s lawn. Mariela says she never told him anything about the construction issues. “I never saw anything,” he says.

“She is a very good friend, she is an excellent mother, a very good woman. She does everything for her daughter, for Estelita, ”says Mariela.

“She is a very hard worker, she responds to injustice. We had to be in family court here which is a disaster, we are going through things that shouldn’t be happening and she is very passionate. She wants to change the laws. In one of the last conversations we had, he told me: “It can’t stay that way because it’s not possible. Children must be protected ”. He has a huge heart and has passion ”.

On Thursday, Mariela approached the family reunification center, which was set up under spur of the moment on Collins Avenue and 93rd Street, and asked about her friend. “I told them which unit I was staying in and they pointed out that they hadn’t heard from them.” At the exit, he showed pictures of Graciela and her daughter so they could identify her.

Mariela does not give up hope that her friend and family appear alive. “I think there is still a chance, but the possibility that there is life there, from what I saw today, is not very great. It breaks my soul to think of this creature and all the creatures trapped in it. I have faith in God, but what I saw there today did not do me good. It didn’t give me much hope. “