Miami building collapse: Man says he has received 16 silent calls from missing grandparents’ landline

More than 150 people still unaccounted for as search-and-rescue efforts continue

One of the families of a couple who lived in the Miami-area apartment building that collapsed earlier this week say they haven’t yet heard from them, but that they have been getting unexplained silent phone calls from their landline.

Jake Samuelson told Florida’s TV station WPLG that his grandparents Arnie and Myriam Notkin are among the more than 150 people unaccounted for in the Champlain Towers collapse. The family hasn’t heard from them since the disaster, but they have received 16 calls from the landline phone that was usually by the pair’s bedside table.

“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,” Mr Samuelson told the station.

The calls began on Thursday evening following the collapse, and continued through Friday.

The Samuelsons have visited a family reunification centre and asked authorities to investigate the case.

“We are trying to rationalise what is happening here. We are just trying to get answers,” Mr Samuelson said.

Mr Notkin is a physical education teacher, and Ms Notkin is a banker and real estate agent.

A total of 156 people are unaccounted for and nine are known to have died after the scenic apartment building in Surfside, Florida, partially caved in on Thursday.

The Miami-Dade Police Department identified three of the victims late on Saturday night as Antonio Lozano, 83; Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont. Authorities identified the fourth victim as Stacie Fang.

A fire deep inside the wreckage, producing a large amount of smoke, has hampered some rescue efforts.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse, but an engineering firm that evaluated the building in 2018 found that major structural repairs worth $9m were needed. The ground floor pool deck of the building was reportedly supported by a damaged concrete slab, and cracks were visible in columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.

A lawsuit has been filed against the condo’s homeowners association.

Those with family members who may have been in the building at the time of its collapse are asked to call 305-614-1819. More information here.

“Buildings in America do not just fall down like this. There is a reason. We need to find out what that reason is,” the mayor of Surfside, Charles Burkett, told the AP.