Florida condo resident stayed with girlfriend on night of collapse

A resident in Surfside, Florida, said he narrowly avoided the deadly collapse of the condominium building he calls home because his girlfriend asked him to spend the night at her place — a decision that may have saved his life.

When Erick de Moura woke up the next morning, he heard the news. “My building collapsed and she was also shocked and no one believed,” de Moura told CBS Miami. 

De Moura, who lived on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South, said it was an unlikely move to stay with his girlfriend during the week. Now, he’s hoping more survivors will be pulled out of the building. 

“There’s a lot of hope still to find people alive,” he told CBS Miami at the scene of the collapse. 

“It wasn’t about my home, it was about the life that I had there, the lives that are there, the families, the kids, it’s about community,” de Moura said. “It wasn’t about me.”

At least 12 people have been killed and 149 others remain unaccounted for as rescue teams search the rubble where the building collapsed last week. No one has been pulled from the rubble alive since last Thursday.