Mayor: Child alone outside collapse site brings tragedy home
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) - The mayor of a Florida town where a beachfront condo tower collapsed says his recent encounter with a little girl sitting alone in a chair near the site reminded him what an enormous impact the tragedy has had on the community.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he came across the girl, who appeared to be about 11 or 12, sitting near the site where the Champlain Towers South collapsed early Thursday.
He had seen her earlier, with one of her parents, and talked to them. The other parent was in the building when it collapsed and was among the more than 150 people still missing, Burkett said.
The mayor said he knelt down beside the girl Sunday night and asked if she was OK.
"She said, `Yes,'" he said. He said she was looking at her phone, reading a Jewish prayer to herself.
"And that really brought it home to me," Burkett said. "She wasn´t crying, she was just lost. She didn´t know what to do, what to say, who to talk to."
Surfside, Fla., Mayor Charles Burkett, right, joins worshipers, late Saturday, June 26, 2021, during a prayer vigil for the victims and families of the Champlain Towers collapsed building in Surfside, at the nearby St. Joseph Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for two days after Thursday's fatal collapse. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Burkett said he looked for the child Monday morning when he and other officials went to the family reunification center to talk to relatives of those who lived in the condominium building. He didn't see her.
"But I am going to find her, and I am going to tell her that we´re all here for her and we are going to do the best we can to bring out that parent," the mayor said.
"It´s horrific," he said. "This is disturbing, but that is just a tiny, tiny example of the impact that this collapse has had on our community."
The Mayor of Surfside Charles Burkett, left, talks with Rachel Spiegel, right, who is looking for information on the Champlain Towers South Condo building, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. Spiegel's mother Judy lives in the building and is missing. Also shown are Spiegel's brothers Josh Spiegel, second from left, and Michael Spiegel, second from right, and her father Kevin Spiegel. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Rachel Spiegel, right, is hugged by the Mayor of Surfside Charles Burkett, left, as she asks for information about the 12-story beachfront condo building which partially collapsed, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. Spiegel's mother Judy lives in the building and is missing. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
A memorial wall of flowers and photos grows at the intersection of 88th Street and Harding Avenue near the collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., near Miami, on Monday, June 28, 2021. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald via AP)
Handwritten messages of support hang on a barricade at the intersection of 88th Street and Harding Avenue near the collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., near Miami, on Monday, June 28, 2021. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald via AP)
A memorial wall of flowers and photos stands at the intersection of 88th Street and Harding Avenue near the collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., near Miami, on Monday, June 28, 2021. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald via AP)
South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for survivors at the 12-story oceanfront condo, Champlain Towers South on Saturday, June 26, 2021 that partially collapsed early Thursday morning in the Surfside area of Miami. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald via AP)
