Among the almost 100 residents still unaccounted for in Thursday morning’s Surfside condominium collapse are at least 19 South Americans — and one family feared lost is part of Paraguay’s First Family.
Sophia López Moreira is the sister of Paraguay’s First Lady, Silvana López Moreira — wife of President Mario Abdo Benítez. They're also the daughters of one of Paraguay's richest men, Néstor López.
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Family members now fear the worst as Sophia is among the missing from the 12-story Champlain Towers South building that partially collapsed in Surfside — among the 99 people still missing in the catastrophe, as of Thursday night.
The Paraguayan consulate in Miami confirms her husband, Paraguayan businessman Luis Pettengill, their three children and a family friend are also missing. A relative in Paraguay told radio there the family was visiting Miami for COVID-19 vaccinations.
That was also apparently the case for several of the other South American nationals feared lost in the collapse. They include four Venezuelans, according to Venezuela’s consular affairs director; and nine Argentines, according to Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Three of the Argentines have been identified: Dr. Andrés Galfrascoli, his husband Fabian Núñez — and the 6-year-old daughter they’d recently adopted, Sofia. They were staying in a friend’s condominium – number 803.
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