Vigil held Wednesday at site of condo collapse in Surfside
Family members and rescue workers held a vigil Wednesday night near the site of a collapsed Surfside condo building shortly after officials announced that they had given up hope of finding any survivors.
According to Joe Hernandez, a Pine Island resident who was among some of the first emergency responders to be sent to the Surfside site for rescue operations, the gathering began shortly after 7 p.m. with a rabbi reciting a Jewish prayer, followed by a Christian minister leading a recitation of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
In his report presented this morning to The Eagle, Hernandez said, “Rescue workers, their helmets held to their hearts and their boots coated in dust, joined local officials, rabbis and chaplains in a moment of silence beside the rubble. Afterward, the rabbis and chaplains walked down the line of officials, many of whom were sobbing, and one by one hugged them.”