As Surfside condo crashed down, they escaped through smoke and ruin

In this Sunday, June 27, 2021 image from video, Alfredo Lopez talks about how his family escaped from the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside. Lopez and his wife, Marian, right, were asleep when the first thundering blast jolted them awake. Alfredo rushed to wake his 24-year-old son, Michael. When Alfredo opened the front door that night, half of the building was gone. A jagged five-foot chunk of flooring barely left enough room to escape. “There was no hallway, no ceiling, no apartments, no walls, nothing.” The 61-year-old froze in terror, unable to move. “I was petrified. I really thought, ‘This is it. We are going to die’.” (AP Photo/Stacey Plaisance) (Stacey Plaisance/AP)