PICTURED: Three more victims of Surfside condo collapse are identified, including mom-of-three, as the death toll rises to 36 and 109 remain missing with Tropical Storm Elsa barreling toward Florida

Officials released the names of victims Nancy Kress Levin, 76; her son Jay Kleiman, 52; and Francis Fernandez Plasencia, 67, a mother of three, on Tuesday
The names were revealed as workers uncovered eight bodies on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 36
So far 29 victims of the collapsed have been identified
The work of looking for survivors continued as wind and rains from Tropical Storm Elsa complicated efforts
The storm is expected to become a hurricane before making landfall in Florida
Officials said search and rescue operations would be suspended if gusts reached past 45 miles per hour
The bulk of the storm, however, is expected to miss the Miami-Dade area

By Peter Belfiore For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press

Published: 05:28 BST, 7 July 2021 | Updated: 05:29 BST, 7 July 2021

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Florida officials identified the remains of three additional victims on Tuesday of the deadly June 24 collapse of a condo building in Surfside.

Officials named Nancy Levin, 76, her son Jay Kleiman, 52, and 67-year-old Francis Fernandez Plasencia, a mother of three, whose bodies were recovered Monday, bringing the total of identified victims of the collapse to 29.

The announcement came as rescuers discovered eight bodies in the rubble Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 36 with 109 people still unaccounted for.

The rescuers' efforts were complicated by wind and rain from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Elsa, which was expected to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall on Florida's northern Gulf Coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday.

Miami-Dade fire officials said rescue efforts would be suspended if winds went above 45-miles per hour.

Nancy Levin, 76, along with her son Jay Kleiman, 52, were among the three victims of the Surfside condo collapsed identified on Tuesday

Levin with her children, Frank (left) and Jay Kleiman. Frank's body was found over the weekend along with his newlywed wife and her disabled son

Levin fled the Cuban Revolution with her first husband in 1959, and first settled in Puerto Rico.

Then in the 1980s she moved as a single mother with her two boys to Surfside.

There, they lived in the then-new condo building popular with Hispanic Jews who had come mostly from Cuba.

In Surfside, she became a beloved member of the Shul Jewish community, and was known there as a doting 'abuela,' according to Chabad.org.

She was one of the seven volunteers who served on the condo association board, tasked with with organizing repairs for the building, and she was the only one that perished in the collapse.

Her son, Jay Kleiman moved back to Puerto Rico to work with his father in the garment industry.

Newlyweds: Frank Kleiman and Ana Ortiz also perished together in the collapse

Ortiz, Kleiman and Ortiz's disabled son Luis Bermudez, 26, (pictured) lived on the same floor as Levin

He was used to hard times; the business suffered with the financial crisis in the Caribbean territory and Hurricane Maria in 2017. But they pulled through.

He had been visiting his mother in recent weeks for the funeral of an old high school friend who died of the coronavirus.

'It is so tragic that he flew for a friend who died from COVID complications, and ended up there,' said Mark Baranek, who coached both Kleiman and the friend, George Matz, for a flag football team from their synagogue.

Kleiman was a musician, who released three albums, including one which debuted just months before the accident.

'He was just always in my heart,' said childhood friend Lauren Miller. 'Jay was not family. ... But he was the family I chose for myself.'

Levin's other son, Frank Kleiman, 50, had lived on the same floor as his mother.

His body was discovered over the weekend along with his newlywed wife Ana Ortiz, 46, and Ortiz's disabled son, 26-year-old Luis Bermudez, of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Plasencia, also originally from Cuba, was the mother of three children, Erika, Pablo and Christina, and was spending the night visiting friends Maggie Vazquez-Bello and Rosa Saez, who are still missing.

Francis Fernandez Placensia, 67, was also one of the three victims identified Tuesday

Placensia left behind three children Pablo (from left) Erika and Christina, whom she was close with

She was a parishioner of Coral Gables' Church of the Little Flower, and in her social media presence she appeared to remain close with her children, often celebrating holidays and eating dinner together.

A Gofundme has been set up to assist her family.

Officials overseeing the search at the site of the Florida condominium collapse sounded increasingly somber Tuesday about the prospects for finding anyone alive, saying they had detected no new signs of life in the rubble.

Crews in yellow helmets and blue jumpsuits searched the debris for a 13th day while they were lashed with wind and rain from the storm.

Rescue efforts entered their 13th day Tuesday and were complicated by wind and rain from Tropical Storm Elsa

There were still 109 people unaccounted for in the rubble of the demolished building as of Tuesday

So far 36 bodies have been found in debris, with eight on Tuesday

Rescue workers walked past the portion of the towers demolished Sunday to allow further access to the debris

With the remaining portion of the condo demolished, workers were able to gain better access to areas that were previously inaccessible

Workers lugging pickaxes and power saws continued to search through piles of concrete rubble barbed with snapped steel rebar

More of the building could be seen after its controlled demolition

Although finding additional survivors was unlikely by Tuesday, officials were still calling it a search and rescue operation

Cranes assisted the removal of debris, but winds from Tropical Storm Elsa slowed rescue efforts

While new piles of rubble could be searched after the demolition, weather worked against the workers

Stiff winds from Elsa hampered efforts to remove debris by crane Tuesday

Severe weather from Elsa threatened to hinder search efforts. Lightning forced rescuers to pause their work for two hours early Tuesday, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said.

And stiff winds of 20 mph, with stronger gusts, hampered efforts to move heavy debris with cranes, officials said.

However, the storm's heaviest winds and rain were expected to bypass Surfside and neighboring Miami as Elsa strengthened before making landfall somewhere between Tampa Bay and Florida's Big Bend on a path across northern Florida.

Elsa gathered strength and has become a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph as it looms off the coast of Florida. This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Tuesday shows the storm in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

This graphic shows Hurricane Elsa bearing down on the Florida coast, and its expected trajectory

The center of Elsa was about 155 miles south-southwest of Tampa, Florida, and was moving north at around 9 miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, the NHC said in a late afternoon advisory.

A storm becomes a hurricane when maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph.

Video released by the Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Department showed workers lugging pickaxes and power saws through piles of concrete rubble barbed with snapped steel rebar.

Other searchers could be seen digging with gloved hands through pulverized concrete and dumping shovels of debris into large buckets.

Search-and-rescue workers continued to look for open spaces where people might be found alive.

'We're actively searching as aggressively as we can,' Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said at a news conference Tuesday.

But he added: 'Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive. The key things - void spaces, living spaces - we're not seeing anything like that.'

While officials still call the efforts a search-and-rescue operation, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said families of those still missing are preparing for news of 'tragic loss.'

Officials were increasingly doubtful that more victims of the collapse would be found alive Tuesday, but said efforts would continue despite the poor weather

Crews have removed 124 tons of debris, according to fire officials, but no one has been found alive since the first hours after the collapse

She said President Joe Biden, who visited the area last week, called Tuesday to offer his continued support.

'I think everybody will be ready when it's time to move to the next phase,' said Levine Cava, who stressed that crews would use the same care as they go through the rubble even after their focus shifts from searching for survivors to recovering the dead.

'Really, you will not see a difference,' she said. 'We will carefully search for bodies and belongings, and to catalog and respectfully deal with any remains that we find.'

No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the collapse, which struck early on June 24, when many of the building's residents were asleep.

Workers demolished what remained of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside on Sunday evening in a bid to open up further areas for rescue

Officials announced Tuesday that teams had recovered eight additional bodies - the highest one-day total since the collapse. More than 100 people remain unaccounted for.

'Active search and rescue continued throughout the night, and these teams continue through extremely adverse and challenging conditions,' Levine Cava said. 'Through the rain and through the wind, they have continued searching.'

Crews have removed 124 tons of debris from the site, Cominsky said. The debris was being sorted and stored in a warehouse as potential evidence in the investigation into why the building collapsed, officials said.

Workers have been freed to search a broader area since the weekend demolition of the unstable remaining portion of the condo building. Officials said that gave rescuers access to spaces that were previously closed off, including bedrooms where people were believed to be sleeping at the time of the disaster.

THE MIAMI CONDO COLLAPSE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED SO FAR

54-year-old Stacie Fang

STACIE DAWN FANG

Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, was with her son Jonah Handler, a teenager, when the building collapsed. They lived on the tenth floor. The boy's small hand waved through the wreckage as a man out walking his dog hurried to the site, climbed through a pile of glass and rebar and promised to get help right away.

Rescuers helped the boy out from under a pile of cement and carried him away on a stretcher to a hospital.

'There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,' members of her family said in a statement. 'Many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time.'

Asked about the boy's condition, a family friend, Lisa Mozloom told the AP 'He will be fine. He's a miracle.'

MANUEL LAFONT

Manuel LaFont, 54

Manuel LaFont, 54, was a proud father, a baseball fan and a business consultant who lived on the building's eighth floor.

He had a 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Adriana LaFont, the Miami Herald reported.

Adriana asked her friends on Facebook to pray the rosary for Manny before his body was found. 'So many memories inside the walls that are no more today, forever engraved experiences in the heart,' she wrote.

LaFont, a Houston native, coached his son's baseball team, the Astros, at North Shore Park, just a mile away from the Champlain. He was a parishioner at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach. The parish's school parents gathered Saturday afternoon to pray for LaFont and his neighbors who were still missing.

An alumnus of Sharpstown High School in Houston, LaFont had worked across Latin America and the Caribbean for a manufacturing firm, leading a division focusing on roadway safety that built crash cushions and moveable barriers, the Herald reported.

'I got into this industry specifically because I don't want to sell widgets. I want to help people. I want to do something good in this world,' he said at an industry conference in 2016. 'When I die, I want to say that my life meant something.'

ANTONIO AND GLADYS LOZANO

Antonio and Gladys Lozano

Antonio and Gladys Lozano lived on the ninth floor. The two had known each other over 60 years and would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on July 21.

Their sons told WPLG-TV that the couple had joked neither wanted to die before the other, because neither wanted to live without the other. Their one solace, the brothers said, was that they were together when they died.

Authorities confirmed on Saturday that Antonio, 83, and Gladys, 79, were among the dead.

Sergio Lozano said he had dinner with his parents hours before the collapse. He lived in one of the towers of the complex and could see his parents' apartment across the way from his. That night, he said the heard a loud noise they thought could be a storm.

'The building is not there,' he said he told his wife. 'My parents' apartment is not there. It's gone.'

ANA ORTIZ, HER HUSBAND FRANK AND HER SON LUIZ

Ana Ortiz, left, and her son Luis Bermudez and Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina (right)

Luis Bermudez, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, had battled with muscular dystrophy for years and used a wheelchair. The 26-year-old man lived with his mother Ana Ortiz on the seventh floor of the Champlain Towers South.

His father, also named Luis Bermudez, texted the AP saying 'my son is a hero.' He also wrote on Facebook that he could not believe he's gone.

'Now rest in peace and without any obstacles in heaven,' he wrote. 'I will see you soon my Luiyo.'

Ortiz, 46, had just gotten married with Frankie Kleiman. Alex Garcia, the couple's close friend, told The Miami Herald he had set them up on a blind date. Kleiman lived with his wife and stepson on the same floor as his brother Jay Kleiman, who was in town for a funeral, and their mother Nancy Kress Levin. The Kleimans and their mother are still missing.

50-year-old Frank Kleiman, left, was found on Monday. He was Ana's husband

Ortiz was described as a woman who was committed to giving her son the best possible life.

'She´s a rock star. And gorgeous," Garcia told the Herald. "And on top of that a super mom.

FRANK KLEIMAN

Kleiman, 50, was the husband of Ana Ortiz, whose body was found alongside that of her disabled son, Luiz, over the weekend.

LEON AND CHRISTINA OLIWKOWICZ

Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina were also identified as victims of the tower collapse on Sunday evening

The couple lived on the 8th floor of the condo tower for several years, according to Venezuelan journalist Shirley Varnagy, a close friend of their family.

They were among six Venezuelan natives caught in the building's collapse. Still missing Monday were Moisés Rodán, 28; Andrés Levine, 27; Luis Sadovnik, 28, and his wife, Nicole Langesfeld, Varnagy said.

Varnagy said the Oliwkowicz's daughter had been outside the building waiting for some information about their fate. Her husband answered their phone and asked to be left alone.

The couple's daughter, Mrs. Leah Fouhal, works as a secretary at a Jewish school in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, where the couple donated a Torah in 2019 in a procession that included a vintage fire truck, music and a giant velvet and gold crown, according to COLlive.com, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet that covers Chabad-Lubavitch communities around the world.

Meanwhile, the parents of Rodán, Levine and Sadovnik live in Venezuela and traveled to the U.S. Friday. 'Some did not have a visa, others had an expired passport, but with diplomatic collaboration they were able to arrive,' Varnagy said.

MICHAEL DAVID ALTMAN

The body of 52-year-old Marcus Joseph Guara was recovered on Saturday

HILDA NORIEGA

Hilda Noriega (pictured) was named by her family Wednesday as the 12th confirmed victim of the tragedy

Hilda Noriega, who lived in Apt. 602 in the 12-story tower, was the mother of North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega.

She had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.

Her body was discovered among the remains of the condo tower Tuesday.

Her family paid tribute to the 'matriarch of the family' in a statement Wednesday.

Noriega's son had traveled to the collapse site Thursday to look for his mother, who had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.

Among the rubble, the police chief found a birthday card a relative had given to Noriega at a brunch, reported Local10.

Emma Guara, 4, Lucia Guara, 10, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and Marcus Guara, 52

THE GUARA FAMILY

Miami-Dade police identified 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara as victims in the condo collapse on Wednesday, June 30.

The remains of their father, Marcus Guara, 52, were pulled from the rubble Saturday and identified Monday. The girls and their mother, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, were recovered Wednesday.

The family lived on the eighth floor of the condo.

DAVID AND BONNIE EPSTEIN

Bonnie and David Epstein were on the ninth floor when the building gave way. Their son, Jonathan, who lives in New York City said he hasn't been able to contact them.

'I'm trying to be a little optimistic, but I just don't see it,' he told WJXT.

'It just doesn't seem real, you know? Why this building? It doesn't make sense. I don't know. I'm struggling to make sense of it.'

Bonnie and David Epstein were on the ninth floor when the building gave way. Authorities identified David's body on Sunday. His wife was found days earlier

On Sunday, Miami-Dade police identified David, 58, as one of the 24 people known to have perished in the fallen tower. His remains were recovered on Friday.

Bonnie's body was recovered days earlier. She was 56 years old.

The couple, who worked in real estate investments, moved to Florida to retire early so that they could pursue their love of water sports, according to a friend.

Richard Oller, a friend of the couple, wrote on Facebook that David and Bonnie lived on the ninth floor of the building with their dog.

GRACIELA CATTAROSSI AND STELLA CATTAROSSI

Seven-year-old Stella Cattarossi's body was found alongside her mother Graciela, 48

A Miami firefighter was present when the body of his seven-year-old daughter was recovered from the rubble of the Surfside condo catastrophe in Florida.

Officials said the body of Stella Cattarossi was found Tursday, seven days after the collapse of Champlain South Tower which has left 22 confirmed dead and 126 still missing.

Friends posting online said the girl was found sleeping alongside her 48-year-old mother Graciela. Authorities later confirmed that both mother and daughter were found.

They were staying with Graciella's elderly parents, Graciela and Gino Cattarossi, who have not been identified, but are also unaccounted for.

Stella's father Enrique Arango - a ten-year veteran of the Miami Fire Rescue department - is a member of the rescue team who found the girl and was present when her body was recovered.

He had been on the site with his brother.

Graciela’s sister Andrea, an architect based in Pilar, Argentina, was visiting at the time of the disaster. She is also still missing.

GONZALO TORRE

Gonzalo Torre, 81, whose remains were found on Saturday, lived at the condo.

MARICOY OBIAS-BONNEFOY AND CLAUDIO BONNEFOY

The bodies of Chilean national Claudio Bonnefo, 85, and his wife Maria 'Maricoy' Obias-Bonnefoy, 69, were identified by authorities.

They were among at least 36 people from Latin American nations that are missing, according to the Miami Herald. The couple were reported missing from Unit #1001.

Maricoy Obias-Bonnefoy, born in the Philippines, reportedly called her niece Irene Obias-Sanchez on the evening of the building collapse to discuss a family get-together planned for that coming Sunday.

The bodies of Chilean national Claudio Bonnefo, 85, and his wife Maria 'Maricoy' Obias-Bonnefoy, 69, were identified by authorities

It would have been one their first family gatherings since the pandemic as the Bonnefoys were strict about following lockdown restrictions.

'I could have just texted her back like I often did, but last night it felt different. I knew she wanted to talk about a get-together we were planning on Sunday with my sisters. She was so excited to finally be able to socialize with family after everyone was vaccinated,' Obias-Sanchez said.

Obias-Bonnefoy had immigrated to the US in the 1970s and worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. before moving to retiring and moving to Surfside about 10 years ago, the Miami Herald reported.

ANDREAS GIANNITSOPOULOS

Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, of Houston was about to start his senior year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Miami-Dade Police identified him as one of the victims of the June 24 condo collapse in Surfside.

Giannitsopoulos was in Surfside to visit his godfather and his father's best friend, Manuel 'Manny' LaFont.

Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, of Houston was about to start his senior year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Miami-Dade Police identified him as one of the victims of the June 24 condo collapse in Surfside

The 54-year-old, a coach and business consultant, was also identified as one of the victims.

'My brother was honestly like my other half,' 19-year-old Athanasia Giannitsopoulos told The Tennessean.

'He was my best friend as well as my older brother, so he always protected me and he was always there for me no matter what.

'He was the most selfless person I have ever met in my life.'

TZVI AINSWORTH AND INGRID AINSWORTH

Tzvi Ainsworth, 68, and his wife, Ingrid Ainsworth, 66, were confirmed to have been killed in the condo collapse on Monday.

The couple, who moved to Miami from Melbourne, Australia, had an apartment on the 11th floor.

The Ainsworths, who were well known among Melbourne's small Jewish community, split their time between Florida and Australia.

The Ainsworths lived in Australia for nearly two decades before returning to South Florida to be near their children.

The couple had seven children and many live in South Florida, including a daughter who lives just blocks away.

Tzvi (pictured far left) and Ingrid (pictured far right) Ainsworth, members of the Jewish community from Melbourne, lived in an apartment on the 11th floor of the building. Their remains were identified on Monday, July 5

'Every person she encountered, ever in her life, became her friend. Everyone was treated as equals,' Chana Wasserman wrote in a Mother’s Day blog post to her mother Itty last year.

'The guy at the laundromat, the guy working at the fruit market...

Ingrid struggled with chronic pain issues, but didn’t let that darken her mood.

She tried to focus on the positive, a sunny day, a long car ride that would seem tedious to many she reframed as a chance to talk and catch up, her daughter wrote.