A year ago, a teen was pulled from the rubble and was one of the only survivors of the Surfside collapse. Today, his father has established a charity in honor...
The teenage boy fell from the 10th floor of the beachfront condo tower that collapsed a year ago today in the South Florida town of Surfside, killing 98 people, including his mother.
Jonah Handler’s miraculous rescue from one of the deadliest building collapses in U.S. history might seem to have an obvious parallel, given his name. For his father and others, the rescue brings to mind the Old Testament tale of the prophet Jonah.
Seven minutes elapsed between the initial rumblings and the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside. But a security guard didn’t know how to activate the building’s warning system.
Some people might have no memory of such a traumatic death-defying experience. But Jonah, who never lost consciousness, remembers every frightful second.