Three members of an intensely close Cuban-Puerto Rican family have been identified as victims. Several others remain missing in the condo disaster.
The seventh floor of Champlain Towers South headquartered a tightly knit family that’s lost three members, with others counted among the missing after the building collapsed in Surfside last week. Newlyweds Frankie Kleiman,55, and Ana Ortiz-Kleiman,46, along with Ortiz-Kleiman’s son, Luis Bermudez,26, lived in unit 702. They have been identified among the dead by Miami-Dade police, while Kleiman’s brother, Jay, and his mother, Nancy, who lived in 712, are missing. Published reports and social media paint a picture of an intensely loving clan. Though Frankie and Ana, known as Annie, had been together for about a decade, they tied the knot May 28, said Annie’s sister Nicole, who lives in West Palm Beach with their mother, Josefina. “I would never imagine that this would ever happen to my family,” Nicole said. « One thing they would want me to tell you is that even though it really, really hurts, I know that they are going to heaven. … I know that I will see them again.” Remembering those who died in the condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida How to help victims of Surfside devastation, things to know Frankie, a father of four, was thrilled that his daughter is pregnant with his first grandchild, the Miami Herald reports, and also was a devoted stepdad to Annie’s son, Luis.
