Man who lives in condo looks out, tells wife ‘My parents’ apartment isn’t there’

A man who lived across from the South Tower watch as his parents apartment disappeared in collapse.

SURFSIDE, Fla. – Sergio Lozano said he had dinner with his parents, Gladys and Antonio Lozano, only hours before the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in the early morning of Thursday.

Lozano lived in one tower of the Champlain condo building and he could see his parents apartment across the way from his.

Then, a little after 1 a.m., he said he and his wife were in bed when they heard loud noises. Lozano said he thought it was a windstorm or a tornado.

That’s when he went out to his balcony to move furniture.

“My wife was walking behind me because she was going to help me move the furniture,” Sergio Lozano said.

Gladys and Antonio Lozano have not been heard from since the collapse at the Champlain Towers South where the couple lived. (WPLG)

He remembered walking out to the balcony and then turning to his wife.

“And I tell her, ‘It’s not there.’ And she’s yelling, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘My parents apartment is not there, it’s gone!,’ and I just ran downstairs,” Lozano said.

Lozano was at the family unification center with his brother, where he had come to give a DNA sample.

Sergio said his parents would have celebrated their 59th anniversary on July 21 and had known each other for more than 60 years. The son said that his parents had joked that neither wanted the other one to pass away first because they didn’t want to be without each other.

Sergio said if he was to find solace, it is that if they did not survive the collapse, that they “went together and went quickly.”

For information or to report the status of a loved one who is unaccounted for, call 305-614-1819 or 305-993-1071.

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About the Authors:

Ian Margol joined the Local 10 News team in July 2016 as a general assignment reporter. Born in Miami Beach and raised in Broward County, Ian is thrilled to be back home in South Florida.

Michelle F. Solomon is a multi-platform producer/reporter for Local10 and is the podcast producer/reporter/host of the station's original, true-crime podcast The Florida Files and producer of Local10.com's DigiShorts.