Soccer game kept woman away from condo wing that collapsed

99 PeopleUnaccounted for, in Miami ResidentialBuilding Collapse.A 12-story beachfront condo building north of Miami in Surfside, Florida, partially collapsedabout 1:30 a.m. June 24.The collapsed portionof Champlain Towerscontained about 55 ofthe building’s 130 units. .The complex is occupied byyear-round and seasonalresidents, so authorities aren’t sure how many people were in the building.So far, search-and-rescueteams have pulled at least35 people from the wreckage.One person is confirmed dead, althoughthat number is expected to rise. .Frank Rollason, director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management,said they believe all survivors of the collapse have been found. .According to Miami-Dade Police, thereare 99 people still unaccounted for. .Crews were still searching the debris as of Thursdayafternoon, and engineers have reportedly already beguninvestigating why the building collapsed. .The building, built in 1981, was in the process of beingroutinely inspected before its collapse.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — A soccer game may have saved Patricia Avilez’s life.

Avilez’s brother-in-law lives in a condo located in the wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building that collapsed in a town outside Miami early Thursday, killing at least one person.

When the brother-in-law isn’t there, Avilez routinely stops by to pick up the mail and make sure everything in the condo is in order.

“Last night I was thinking, “Let me go over there to sleep over night,” she said. “I was looking at the soccer game and I changed my mind and I stayed home.”

She said she woke up at 5:30 a.m. Thursday and headed over to the apartment. On the way, she heard on the radio about the collapse.

“And then I came here and it’s gone,” she said. “Everything is disaster.”