CNN
- A resident of the Miami-area condo building that collapsed says a stranger carried her to safety.
- Esther Gorfinkel, 88, has a bad knee, so her neighbor Alfredo Lopez carried her on his shoulder.
- CNN's Randi Kaye reunited the residents more than a week after their harrowing escape.
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More than a week after a building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, 88-year-old Esther Gorfinkel had a chance to thank the neighbor who carried her on his shoulder to safety, CNN's Randi Kaye reported.
Alfredo Lopez and his family were fleeing their sixth floor apartment through darkness and dust, when they ran into Gorfinkel on the staircase just a few flights down. She told Lopez her knee was bothering her and she wanted to stop.
"Stopping is not an option," Lopez recalled telling her, according to CNN.
So Lopez hoisted Gorfinkel onto his shoulder and carried her to the parking garage, where they climbed over rubble to escape.
CNN
In their first meeting since then, Gorfinkel wrapped her arms around Lopez, crying and clutching a handkerchief.
"I'm so happy," she said.
"We made it out, you know. So that's what's important," Lopez said. Gorfinkel agreed.
They lost all their belongings when the building fell overnight on June 24. As of Monday, the death toll stands at 27 and at least 115 people are still missing, NBC Miami reported.
Lopez also got out with his wife, Marian, and their 24-year-old son, Michael. Lopez told CNN's Kaye that he is now dealing with "survivor's guilt," asking himself why he and his family survived when so many others did not.
The search and rescue efforts will resume after the rest of the building was demolished on Sunday night.