SURFSIDE (CBSMiami) – Who was the voice within the rubble?
That query has been one of many heartbreaking mysteries of the Surfside constructing collapse.
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A assessment by Miami Dade Fire Rescue has concluded that it was Theresa Velasquez, a 36-year-old leisure business government from Los Angeles who was visiting her mother and father on the Champlain Towers South on the evening of the collapse, based on a memo obtained by CBS Miami.
Her mother and father – Julio, 67, and Angela, 60 – additionally died.
Theresa Velasquez’s brother, David, stated he accepts the findings of the hearth division investigation. “There is no way to know 100 percent,” he advised CBS Miami, “but it seems like the logical conclusion.”
According to the 11-page memo, written by Miami Dade Deputy Fire Chief Ray Jadallah, Velasquez did survive the preliminary collapse, however rescue crews have been unable to achieve her earlier than she died.
In the memo, dated April 25, and despatched to Fire Chief Alan Cominsky, Jadallah notes his findings have been primarily based on greater than two months of interviews with the crews who labored to extricate Velasquez.
The report makes an attempt to refute the findings of a USA Today investigation printed in December which recognized the voice within the rubble as 14-year-old Valeria Barth. The report additionally rebuts allegations that the actions of the rescue crews brought on Valeria to burn to loss of life when firefighters by accident set hearth to the room the place {the teenager} was trapped.
There have been questions from the outset of the collapse about whether or not somebody was heard alive within the rubble. Jadallah and others initially denied a voice was heard. Later the division acknowledged there was a voice within the preliminary hours behind a thick concrete slab that had crashed into the underground parking storage.
Those working within the underground storage all agreed the voice was feminine.
Some firefighters believed the voice stated she was in Unit 204. That was the unit the place Valeria was staying together with her mother and father, Luis Fernando Barth and Catalina Gomez. They had traveled collectively to Miami from Colombia a month earlier than the collapse.
Other firefighters stated the voice stated she was in Unit 304, which is owned by Theresa Velasquez’s mother and father.
The report notes: “…it was challenging hearing the woman.”
“One rescuer stated that when they asked the victim if she was with someone else, the female voice responded she was visiting her parents (paraphrased),” the report states. “This statement correlates with the accounts from Theresa Velasquez’s family stating that Ms. Velasquez was visiting her parents from California and was staying with them in apartment #304. Unlike Ms. Barth, who was accompanied by her parents visiting from Colombia and were occupying apartment #204.”
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“According to rescuers, the voice was that of a grown woman whose English appeared to be that of an English speaker with native sentence syntax and excellent vocabulary,” the report continues. “All the rescuers unanimously stated …[the voice] did not have an accent.”
The report notes Valeria’s uncle stated the teenager’s main language was Spanish “but she can speak English” and does have a definite Spanish accent.
According to the report, Valeria’s uncle, Jadallah and others he didn’t imagine the voice was his niece.
CBS Miami was not capable of attain both the uncle or Valeria’s grandmother.
Theresa Velasquez’s physique was unearthed on July 8. It was roughly 15 toes from the assist poles they’d erected whereas they have been trying the extricate the trapped lady. However, the report doesn’t say if Valeria’s physique was additionally present in that space.
The report spends quite a lot of time trying to refute accusations the division didn’t have the mandatory tools to rescue the trapped lady. And disputes the allegation that the firefighters by accident sparked the underground fires that brought on rescue efforts for the trapped lady to be halted for a number of hours. When they returned, they might now not hear the girl’s voice.
The report paperwork the extraordinarily hazardous situations rescue crews have been working underneath to try to save the girl – together with excessive readings of carbon monoxide, hip-deep water polluted with hazardous supplies, electrical shock and the fixed threat of additional collapse.
Theresa Velasquez’s brother, David, stated Jadallah and different officers have spoken to him usually within the months for the reason that collapse.
“I trust what is in that report and the people that made that determination,” he advised CBS Miami.
CBS Miami confirmed the report back to former Miami-Dade Fire Chief Dave Downey.
“I thought it was a comprehensive report and time was spent talking to rescuers to figure out where everybody was and what they were doing,” he stated
“You draw the best conclusions based on the information you have. I spent 19 days down there. In my 30- years, this was one of the worst disasters. I was proud no rescuer was seriously injured. They did everything they could to bring closure to the families.”
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“They did their due diligence,” he stated.