this is is "nightline". >> tonight race against time. inside the search for survivors. >> the first responders are going in through tunnels working from the top and the bottom. it has to be done very, very carefully. >> 159 people still unaccounted for in that building collapse. rescuers battling fire and rain, combing through 12 stories of rubble with their hands and heavy equipment. plus portraits of the missing. the family's excruciating wait for news. >> i hope god lets them live. >> we're hearing their names, learning their stories. >> he was my protector in every sense.

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thanks for joining us. first responders are not giving up. and neither are the families.

anxiously waiting for news of their missing loved ones and any glimmer of hope. rescuers battling the heat, the rain, and the ever present danger of the partially collapsed tower in their race against time. abc's stephanie ramos reports from the scene. >> when i checked the survival list, my aunt and uncles weren't there. i checked for them inside. when i checked the hospital list, they weren't there. where could they be? >> reporter: batina was hoping to pay a surprise visit to her aunt and uncle. instead of a happy reunion, tragedy when she learned the apartment where they lived collapsed. >> the driver dropped me off, and when i passed by through the location of their apartment, i screamed and cried. >> reporter: they had lived in their 10th floor apartment in miami beach for nearly two decades. >> she painted. she she drew.

she was a photographer. it's unbelievable. she's my renaissance woman. she really was. >> reporter: with no new survivors being pulled out of the rubble, patina is expecting the worst. i know this is so painful, but when you think of her possibly still being under there? >> oh, my god -- >> reporter: what goes through your mind? >> it -- it -- we don't want her to hurt and be in pain. at the same time, if they're alive and they really want to be alive and they're fighting for their life, i hope god lets them live. >> reporter: what is your message to other families who are in your same position waiting to hear from loved ones that live in that building? >> it's like a cliche, but please, love your mother. hug your mother. i kiss my mom a lot every day. and she loves it. like, she could go kiss your father, kiss your mother. you never know if it's going to be the last time you're going to hug and kiss them.

really. you never know. >> the family is just two of the estimated 159 people missing after this 136 unit building came crashing down in seconds at 1:30 a.m. on thursday while many of the residets inside for sleeping. >> this building is gone. the whole backside of it inform. everything to the beach. it collapsed. >> inside the building, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, 12 stories. >> reporter: walls ripped away. images frozen in time. bunk beds where moments before residents were sleeping. concrete chunks dangling wires and fires further complicating rescue efforts. four people have been confirmed to have died including stacey fang, the mother of this 15-year-old boy, jonah, firefighters pulled from the

rubble hours after it collapsed. nicholas was nearby when he spotted jonah in the rubble. he stayed with him until rescuers arrived. >> he was just like don't leave me. don't leave me. so i just made sure that he could hear my voice and know that somebody is there. i'm trying to get help. we're going to get you out of there. >> reporter: today the teenager who plays junior varsity baseball for his high school is recovering. but as days go by, the situation turning dire for dozens of families. many of them still waiting for any news about their loved ones. the faces of those missing coming into focus. elon, 21-year-old student at the university of chicago. his parents remembering him tonight. >> loved sports. he was my protector in every sense. just all around good kid. >> reporter: 45-year-old edward gonzalez still unaccounted for. his wife and daughter

fortunately in stable condition. semi and betty lived in unit 910. their daughter michelle telling us she's hoping they are together. simon siegel, a structural engineer born in cuba. his family sharing he loved to travel and having movie nights with family. he truly loved life, they said. lewis, his grandmother saying my grandson is my everything. first responders have been carefully combing through the wreckage, searchers forming a human chain. removing debris by hand using sonar, dogs. >> you can see the e respondersg in through tunnels. they're worng f t p. they'ree .it has to be done ver carefully. >> reporter: teams of 10 to 12 rescuers entering the rubble, working in 15 minute shifts until they grow tired from lifting the heavy debris. the search and rescue effort hindered this morning by pouring

rain and heavy wind. the whole structure so unstable locks around the tower have been closed. the crews have been to disasters before to ground zero in new york. to haiti and they are not giving up hope. >> everybody is running in one direction. they're running into the problem. and trust me, they're putting their lives in peril. >> reporter: tonight so many questions about how a tragedy on this scale could have happened. champlain towers south built in 1918 in surfside just six miles north of miami. 12 stories with 136 units. it housed a mix of year-around residents, snow birds and part-time renters. for decades, it stood against hurricane force winds. authorities searching for clues as to why part of the building came crashing down. considering every possibility. >> further investigation will be critical to understand what was at the root of this.

>> reporter: one man telling cnn his mother said she'd heard creaking noises just a day before the collapse. >> she just told me she had woken up around 3:00, 4:00 in the morning and heard creaking noises, just like sort of creaking noises. they were loud enough to wake her up, but that was it. >> reporter: she's now among the missing. the building had recently begun the 40-year structural recertification process. work started on the roofer. a surfside commissioner saying the towers had been scrutinized in recent years and construction of a nearby building led to issues with the champlain towers' garage. >> my understanding, there were some cracks from that project. minor cracks, but they were just patched up. nothing based on my understanding, to the magnitude that would indicate there's a structural problem that could result in something so catastrophic. >> reporter: in 2015 a tenant sued the association claiming water damage from cracks in her

walls. the two sides reached a settlement. and a 2020 florida international study found in the 90s the land beneath the towers sank at a faster rate than in neighboring towns. the author telling abc news it was flagged as a building that moved compared to most of the others that were stable. tonight, in the face of unimaginable devastation, the painstaking work continues to find the missing. >> they do not stop. they work around the clock in the rain and the lightning, and small fires have taken place. they haven't stopped searching and they'll continue to do so. >> our thanks so stephanie. so many families hoping now for a miracle. earlier i speak to rachel spiegel who's mother judi is still missing. >> rachel, you're in all our hearts tonight. tell us first some things about your mom. >> my mom is the best person in

the world. she is the most loving grandma. i'm in my kid's play room right now. you can see the barbie airplane, the tv, the closet full of stuff. i'm looking at the books, and it's like breaking my heart, because i know the books, the forefront are the ones that my mom either bought or the ones that my mom reads to my kids. i know it. like, gabby's doll house from netflix. like, it's a coloring book. i know all the pink-a-licious. i kids love that. they love when my mom reads that. >> tell us about the last text you had with her. >> the night of wednesday was ws i mean, it will remain in my heart forever regardless of the outcome. she said i love you and said oh, my god, i just remembered

scarlet wanted this dress, and it's a disney dress. it's at target. it's a belle, like, sequin rose dress, and she bought the dress. it's in the mail, yay, i got it. she said i love you. she said i know you've been under a lot of stress. i love you so much. have a great night. i'll talk to you tomorrow. >> what have you been able to tell scarlet so far? i know she offered to go find grandma because she knows her hiding places. >> my rabbi came to my house tonight and together we talked to my daughter. we told her there was an accident in the building, and that my mom was missing, and she said well, mom, maybe she's hiding. i bet she's in our really good hiding spot and you just haven't found her yet, and i said we're not giving up. her.e going to keep looking for- we're going to find her.

she did -- the rabbi said, you know, we have -- your mom has talked to so many people. the news even knows about your mom. everybody knows about grandma, and everybody is looking for grandma. we'd better find her. we need to find her. >> rachel, thank you so much for joining us, and honestly, the whole world is praying for your mom and we're all looking for her. >> thank you. >> be well. >> thank you. and as families like rachel's await word tonight, one family's incredible story of survival, next. microban 24 doesn't just kill bacteria once, then stop. it keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours. just spray and let dry to form a shield that's proven to keep killing bacteria for 24 hours... ...touch after touch. microban 24. i was totally stranded. no tp? so what happened? well... we started buying charmin super mega roll. charmin super mega roll is 6 rolls in 1

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you know, medical professionals have been on site and working with rescue crews since the building first collapsed. earlier i spoke to dr. howard lieberman, part of the jackson memorial ryder trauma center. we saw videos of you and your team getting ready to head out the doors of the hospital. talk to us about what you saw on the scene when you arrived, and clearly that gas mask you're wearing ka notes what you were going through right there. >> i didn't know what to expect. pulling up to the scene, it was pretty impressive to see about 50% of a 12-story building reduced to about four stories. we started going through the rubble, seshliarching for patie we could treat and get to the hospital. >> were you able to treat patients on the ground, and what kind of injuries were you seeing? >> when i was still at the hospital operating, i was told

two patients arrived. i don't know the extent of the injuries or what was done for them. when i got to the scene, we haven't had any patients to treat, unfortunately. >> and we've seen smoelk coming from the fires below. that's why you're wearing the mask, and we saw rain throughout the day. how tricky is this search and rescue operation? >> miami in the summertime, if you're not familiar with it,s the hot and humid. it will turn on a dime and start to pour, thunder and 20 minutes later, t hot and sunny again. we had a lot of really bad thunder and lightning storms. we have to sort of stop the search and rescue, wait for the weather to clear and go back. >> as you watch the hours tick by, precious hours and there's still 159 souls unaccounted for, what are you most concerned about? >> time is a big factor. we want to get people out, find them as quickly as we can. every time there's a rainstorm or some small delay, it's frustratingto us. but like i said, we keep going

ahead. we're doing our job. it's still a search and rescue mission. that's our objective. and other than if it becomes too unsafe such as for weather, we keep going 24/7. no one stops. >> are you hopeful you'll be able to find someone under that rubble? >> you know, you always have to be hopeful until you recover or treat the last patient, you always have to be optimistic. you have to be hopeful. being a trauma surgeon, it's taught me never to give up. i've seen horrifc injuries, patients i never thought would survive who walked out of the hospital. there's always a glimmer of hope. >> thank you for your service and for joining us this evening. good luck to you. >> my pleasure, thank you. thank you. also on the scene, a family was vacationing in florida and staying in their parent's condo. earlier i spoke to them about their narrow escape. >> we're so glad that your family is safe. we know you were in the building d you cldren we in the e time,

yord that loud bang and knew something was really wrong. >> i think the first thing was making sure everybody was all right. i know my wife jumped out of bed to make sure the kids were there and taken care of. once we realized that, we determined what our next move was. when the fire trucks got there, our first instinct was to yell down to them, do we need to leave or are we safer in the apartment? they said no, we need to evacuate immediately, and at that point i yelled back to everybody we had to go. >> tell me about opening the door and what you saw in the abyss. >> i can't explain it. right? you look out and you're thinking that you're going to get into your hallway and come down the stairs. everything is going to be intact, and that it didn't -- what what we're dealing with is not a collapsed building. and i walk out and i look to my left. looking for, again, and exit stairway because we're on vacation and not familiar with the building. and i see just the roof collapse onto our floor, and you could

see just sky. it was dark so you could see just a big dark sky in the distance. right? so you knew that there was nothing behind the collapsed roof. >> and the elevator door, i'm sure, was harrowing. >> the elevator door looking right ahead, right in front of us, it was kind of unbelievable that the doors were kind of -- they were -- it looked like -- i'm surprised we had a floor to walk onto when we walked into the hallway. >> tell me about your escape route. i understand as you were going down, you ran into women and helped them make it to safety? >> there was an elderly woman. we ran into her about the third floor. a 20-year-old was trying to help her. we got her down to the first floor, but when we got to the first floor, we realized that the first floor had also collapsed a little bit. nothing drastic, but probably about three feet, but climbing

through a flooded area with an elderly woman and having to get her up the rubble was a little bit difficult. >> you guys are heros, and you're supervisors. we're grateful for you being with us tonight. thank you so much. stay safe. >> thank you so much for having us again. >> thank you. >> up next, a final thought. what makes febreze air effects different? while cheaper aerosols rely on artificial propellants... febreze uses a 100% natural propellant. check it out! pressure created by what's in your air makes the bottle spray. which means freshness everyone will love. (vo) sensitive to cat allergens? join the thousands who've discovered a difference with pro plan liveclear. the only cat food to reduce allergens an average of 47%. save today at proplanliveclear.com. let's see what we got here. wow, mira esto. gracias, you guys! [kikds] happy father's day! thanks, you guys!

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♪ as we close out the week, we hope you stay with abc news for continuing coverage on the search in south florida. we'll see you back here the same time next week. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.