One year since Champlain Towers collapsed in Fla.
One year has passed since an apartment complex in Surfside, Florida collapsed, leaving multiple people dead. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the family of one of the victims Nicole Langesfield reminisced on what transpired during the fateful day. Langesfield alongside her husband was one of the 98 victims who lost their lives when the building collapsed.
Martin Langesfeld, left, is joined by his parents Pablo and Andrea Langesfeld, as they speak at ceremony honoring Martin’s sister and Pablo and Andrea’s daughter Nicole “Nicky” Langesfeld, who died in the Surfside, Fla., condo collapse, before unveiling a sign for “Nicky Langesfeld Place,” Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Doral, Fla. Langesfeld grew up in Doral before moving to Surfside. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
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UPDATED 2:44 PM PT – Thursday, June 23 2022
One year has passed since an apartment complex in Surfside, Florida collapsed leaving multiple people dead. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the family of one of the victims Nicole Langesfield reminisced on what transpired during the fateful day. Langesfield alongside her husband was one of the 98 victims who lost their lives when the building collapsed.
Prior to their interview, an outside inquiry into the tragic incident was launched in an attempt to give the families of the deceased closure after initial investigations came back with inconclusive results.
“We called her, we called her husband many times and it went straight to voicemail,” expressed the victims brother Martin Langesfield. “When we arrived on the scene we saw half the building was missing. We started to count the floors trying to find the apartment and we saw that half of my sisters apartment was still standing. 15 days later we got a knock on our door that they recovered my sister.”
Additionally, they spoke about their experience in trying to get answers from Florida’s state attorney regarding what caused the tragedy. By their recollection most of their information regarding the collapse came from the media.
“Show me the document,” said Langesfield. “This is an official document by the State Attorney Katherine Fernandez rundle who has declined to meet with us, with many families countless times. It’s around 40 pages. The first sentence of the document speaking in the collapse has the wrong date.”
The posts were originally set up along a makeshift memorial wall about a block west on Harding Avenue last summer. HistoryMiami took the wall down for preservation but the town of Surfside got the posts back for the vigil and has offered to give them to family members. Reference: pic.twitter.com/PdiKpa79nO
— Martin Vassolo (@martindvassolo) June 23, 2022
Langesfield’s father then went on to call for justice for his daughter after a year of unanswered questions.
“My daughter, she was an attorney,” stated Pablo Langesfield. “Since she was five she wanted justice. She became a very good lawyer. To seek justice, this is what we want. Whoever is being held responsible has to pay.”
In the meantime, a memorial service is scheduled to take place later this week on Friday. Jill Biden is slated to make an appearance.