(NEW YORK) — Courtney and Kale Buchholtz had just put their 5-month-old son Cannon to bed and sat down on the couch the night of July 2 when a loud bang shook the walls of their Prairieville, Louisiana, home.
The couple said they thought lightning had struck their house until Courtney Buchholtz looked down at the baby monitor and saw debris flying into Cannon’s room.
Thinking a window had busted open, the couple ran to their son’s room and discovered that instead, a giant oak tree had fallen through the roof.
“When I saw the tree I almost couldn’t even comprehend what was happening, that there was a tree in our house,” Courtney Buchholtz told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “And the thought of it being on top of Cannon, I felt physically ill.”
The Buchholtzes said they heard Cannon crying in his crib, which they took as a good sign that he was at least alive.
Courtney Buchholtz weaved through the debris in the room to pull Cannon out of his crib and handed him to her husband, who checked the infant for injuries.
“I just turned him over and checked him really well to make sure there was nothing wrong with him,” said Kale Buchholtz. “He had been crying, but as soon as I got him in my hands, he was laughing as I was turning him.”
Cannon escaped the incident without a scratch, according to the Buchholtzes, who said he only had to be washed clean of debris from the fallen ceiling.
The family of three quickly evacuated the house and drove to a family member’s nearby home. When Kale Buchholtz returned that night, he found the weight of the tree had destroyed nearly the entire house, aside from Cannon’s crib.
“It was just kind of like a little bubble around him,” he said. “The hallway on one side of his room was where most of the tree was, and around his crib it was just wood and sheetrock and everything else.”
When Courtney Buchholtz re-watched the footage of the tree falling, as captured by the baby monitor app on her phone, she described it as being like there was a “shield” protecting Cannon.
She said she immediately thought of her late son Kasen, who died in 2016, one month after he was born prematurely.
“We always say that he’s watching over his little brother, so my immediate thought was that Kasen was protecting his brother and keeping him safe,” she said. “Losing one child and the thought of anything happening to another child is gut-wrenching.”
The Buchholtzes, who had to rebuild after water flooded their home in 2016, are now trying to salvage whatever they can from their home and prepare to rebuild again.
“It’s been a pain but, you know what, we can deal with that. We’ll clean up a mess any day,” said Courtney Buchholtz, adding, “It could have been so much worse.”
“It makes you realize a house is just a house and the material things can be replaced,” said Kale Buchholtz. “Family is what matters.”
(NEW YORK) — Elsa has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night just southwest of Tampa Bay with sustained winds of 75 mph.
Landfall is expected around 8 or 9 a.m. Wednesday near the Big Bend region along Florida’s west coast.
Storms with winds of 74 mph or higher are considered hurricanes.
Elsa’s path is sparing Miami, where rescuers are still searching for victims of the deadly Surfside condo collapse.
Search and rescue efforts continued through the rain and wind overnight, pausing only briefly for lightning as per the law, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Tuesday. The wind has also hampered large cranes from moving heavy debris, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.
July 6th – Starting Tuesday off with a time-lapse as Elsa’s outer bands stream past the office. Tropical Storm #Elsa is passing just to the west of Key West this morning. Heavy rainfall, strong wind gusts in squalls, and a few tornadoes are possible across South Florida today. pic.twitter.com/6J1IZojt2C
A hurricane warning is in effect along Florida’s northern Gulf Coast while a tornado watch has been issued from Miami to Tampa through 11 p.m.
The University of Florida in Gainesville has canceled all classes for Wednesday as Elsa closes in.
Tampa International Airport is suspending operations from 5 p.m. Tuesday until 10 a.m. Wednesday while the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is stopping operations from 6:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Storm surge could reach 3 to 5 feet along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Rainfall totals may climb to 6 to 8 inches across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas through Thursday.
The ground in many parts of the Sunshine State is already saturated after a 300% rain increase over the last two weeks, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez said Tuesday.
Residents should be prepared to be without power for the next few days, but widespread evacuations aren’t expected, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
After barreling through Florida, Elsa will weaken to a tropical storm or tropical depression as it moves through Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.
By the end of the week, Elsa will bring rain and wind to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 70% of all military personnel have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but a debate has begun to swirl about whether the Pentagon should make vaccinations mandatory for the ranks should the Food and Drug Administration formally approve the vaccine in the future.
While COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. military are taking place under the same emergency use authorization that has allowed vaccinations to take place in the general population, Pentagon officials have said publicly that they would consider whether to make the vaccinations mandatory, as is done with more than a dozen other vaccines, should the FDA formally approve the vaccine.
The issue blew up over the weekend when Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted that he had been contacted by members of the military who told him they would “quit” if ordered to take the vaccine.
The tweet generated both positive and negative responses, with some pointing out that because military personnel sign enlistment contracts they cannot quit. Others noted that the U.S. military requires as many as 17 vaccinations for military service.
Massie later tweeted “NO ONE should be forced or coerced by ANYONE to take the COVID vaccine. The fact that policy discussions in the US are centered around “proof of vaccine” instead of ‘evidence of immunity’ shows that science and reason have been drummed out by politics, profits, and superstition.”
According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, three in 10 American adults said they have not gotten a coronavirus vaccine and definitely or probably will not get one.
Earlier this week the Army Times obtained an internal Army memo that said commanders should “prepare for a directive to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for service members (on or around) 01 September 2021, pending full FDA licensure,” the order said.
“As a matter of policy we do not comment on leaked documents. The vaccine continues to be voluntary,” Maj. Jackie Wren, an Army spokesperson told ABC News. “If we are directed by DOD to change our posture, we are prepared to do so.”
At a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday the Pentagon’s top spokesman emphasized the success that the U.S. military has had in recommending the use of the vaccines.
“It is not FDA approved, and therefore, it is still a voluntary vaccine,” said John Kirby. “I would like to add that as we speak, almost 69% of DOD personnel have received at least one dose. That’s not bad.”
However he added that should the FDA fully approve one of the vaccines “then I am certain that Pentagon leadership — we’ll take a look at what our options are going forward, including the potential option of making mandatory but I’m not going to get too far ahead of process right now,” he added.
Kirby acknowledged that there had been “some preliminary discussions at senior levels within the department to think about what the next logical steps would be if and when FDA approval comes in.”
“I don’t think that should surprise anybody that we’re trying to think about what the implications would be and what how we would, how would react to that but I don’t have any decisions to announce today or specific procedures and protocols to speak to,” said Kirby.
Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — At least 36 people, including three children, have been confirmed dead and 109 others remain unaccounted for after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last month.
The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Tuesday morning that four more bodies were recovered from the rubble. In the evening, she announced another four bodies had been recovered, bringing the official death toll to 36. Twenty-six of the victims have been identified.
Meanwhile, investigators have confirmed that 70 of the 109 people who are still missing were in fact inside of the condominium at the time of the partial collapse. Another 191 people who were living or staying in the building at that time have been accounted for and are safe, according to Levine Cava, who has stressed that the figures are “very fluid” and “will continue to change” as detectives continuously audit the list.
Although officials wouldn’t say when the search and rescue operation will formally transition into a recovery mission, Levine Cava told reporters that the crews will “continue as now to thoroughly, carefully sift through these piles,” looking for “bodies and belongings.” The process is a “very thorough and exhaustive” one, she said.
Crews have hauled away nearly 5 million pounds of concrete from the vast scene of wreckage, but large piles of rubble still remain. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said the rescue workers have been “aggressively” searching for any voids or “liveable spaces” within the debris where there could be trapped survivors but that they are “not coming across that.” No survivors have been discovered in the wreckage of the building since the morning it partially collapsed.
“We’re not seeing anything positive,” Cominsky told reporters on Tuesday morning.
The massive search and rescue mission is now in its 13th day, as teams are able to operate at full capacity and search in areas that were previously inaccessible.
The part of the building that remained standing was cleared of any people or pets before it was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity. However, it was too dangerous for surviving residents to enter the building to retrieve their belongings, officials said.
Video released by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday night showed crews working atop the piles, braving the elements as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the Sunshine State.
The incoming storm, which has weakened from a hurricane, initiated the discussion about demolishing the rest of the building and fast-tracked the process, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday and by Tuesday morning the storm’s center was moving through Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Prior to the demolition, the search and rescue operation was halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns for the crews regarding the remaining structure. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
“The whole world wants to know what happened here,” Levine Cava told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I look forward to learning the truth, as do we all, but I think it’ll be a while before it is understood.”
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — Champlain Towers South condo board members, Surfside town officials, and engineers grappled with issues related to the building’s 40-year recertification process, potentially delaying much-needed plans for repairs in the weeks leading up to the collapse of the building, emails released by the town show.
It’s unclear if or how the apparent delays in the repair plans detailed in the messages may have contributed to the collapse, but the series of emails published by the Town of Surfside offers a glimpse into what kind of communication was taking place right before the deadly accident.
As of Tuesday, 32 people were confirmed to have died and 117 people remained unaccounted for following the collapse of the 12-story building on June 24.
In the weeks before Champlain Towers South’s collapse, emails about a “dire parking situation” suggest that the town’s approval process for a satellite parking space may have contributed to delays in submitting plans for repairs of the condo building, the documents show.
In one email dated May 20, Champlain Towers South engineering consultant Frank Morabito told Surfside town planner Walter Keller that before the engineers could begin working on the building, they needed to hear from the town about how to deal with the upcoming issue of construction vehicles occupying a significant portion of the residents’ parking spaces, according to the documents.
The emails suggest that Morabito and the Champlain Towers South Condo Association did not receive a reply from town officials for a month, prompting building manager Scott Stewart to email Keller, town manager Andrew Hyatt, and Surfside building official James McGuinness on June 21, asking for prompt approval of a satellite parking location for five vehicles so renovation plans could “keep moving forward.”
“This is holding us up, and costs are going up, and [our] 40 year is coming up fast,” Stewart wrote three days before the collapse. “This temporary satellite parking location would allow us to better expedite the repairs on one of [the] Surfside gateway properties.”
According to the records, the town manager and the town building official responded to Stewart on June 22 and 23 — the eve of the collapse — about issues that needed to be addressed before they could grant temporary use of the requested satellite parking lot.
Meanwhile, McGuinness, the town official, was in correspondence with a real estate management company regarding remodeling work that was needed on the building’s facade, pool, and plaza, another chain of emails shows. According to the emails, the condo sought to submit a dry run to “at least start reviews of the plans” as early as June 9, then later followed up with the building official for an invoice for the dry run.
Surfside officials told ABC News that McGuiness was not available to comment on the matter.
Earlier emails outlined challenges faced by building representatives as they tried to keep repairs on track. In a message dated May 26, resident and former condo board member Myriam Notkin complained about tar kettle fumes coming into her apartment during the building’s roof repair, asking if the operation could be relocated. Condo board president Jean Wodnicki responded that the roof remediation plan was approved by the town and that the operation couldn’t be relocated without significantly changing the course of the project.
“We have had a number of presentations on the plans over the last 6 months outlining the process,” Wodnicki wrote in an email responding to the complaint. “The specific location of the coal tar kettle and crane has been explained to the residents for at least a month.”
Further delays could cause further damage and more expense, Wodnicki wrote in the email, noting that the roof repair needed to be done before the rainy season.
Notkin is among those missing following the collapse.
In response to questions about the emails released by Surfside, town manager Hyatt said in a statement that at no point did the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association indicate in any plans or permit applications that emergency action by the town was required.
“There was no indication during any communications between the Town and the association by telephone or electronic mail that this submission required emergency action by the Town of Surfside,” Hyatt said. “The scope of work for repairs was not received until June 21, 2021, and not in the form of a building application. To date, no permit application for these specific repairs has been received by the Town.”
Hyatt also emphasized that plans sent to officials in May were only preliminary.
“The plans received by the Town of Surfside beginning on May 12, 2021, were preliminary and clearly marked ‘Not for construction.’ The Town’s position is that these plans were not final. In fact, no applications for construction permits were submitted,” he said. “It would appear that the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association sought to address a number of issues outside the scope of any proposed 40-year re-certification work such as the installation of new natural gas service and delivery lines, the reconfiguration of existing parking, the moving of parking off site, and other repairs.”
Asked about the messages, a spokesperson for Champlain Tower South Condominium association said, “The emails speak for themselves.”
Joel Figueroa-Vallines, an Orlando-based forensic structural engineer and president of SEP Engineers, told ABC News that the delay in addressing issues with the building is concerning, and that periodic checkups, inspections and overall maintenance are important to keep a building in good shape. Figueroa-Vallines has no ties to Champlain Towers South, and no personal knowledge of the investigation.
For officials, the latest emails are among the many things that will be investigated.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told ABC News that he’s still in the process of gathering information to understand what exactly happened, but said, “I think it sounds like those emails are going to be important.”
Last week, a team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was sent to the site by the Biden administration, and is currently in the preliminary stages of investigating what caused the apparent building failure.
“It will take time, possibly a couple of years, but we will not stop until we have determined the likely cause of this tragedy,” said Dr. James Olthoff, the director of the NIST, which also investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center.
(ATLANTA) — A Georgia golf pro was gunned down on the course where he worked because he stumbled upon a crime in progress, police said Tuesday.
Eugene Siller was shot in the head on Saturday on the green of the 10th hole at Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, near Atlanta, the Cobb County Police Department said.
Two other men were found shot dead in the bed of a white Ram 3500 pickup truck that was on the green, police said.
Police said Tuesday that they believe Siller was shot because he was a witness who “happened upon a crime in progress involving the unknown suspect” and the two victims in the truck.
No arrests have been made but police said Tuesday they’re following “active leads.”
The victims in the truck don’t appear to have any connection to the country club, police said. One of the men was the truck’s owner, Paul Pierson, and the second victim hasn’t been identified, police said.
A motive isn’t clear, police said.
Police added that they don’t believe there’s an active threat to the public. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police at 770-499-4111 or at cobbpolicecrimetips@cobbcounty.org.
(WASHINGTON) — While Capitol Police are marking six months since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by touting changes the agency has made to better prepare for such incidents, Congress continues its push for further investigations into the deadly incident.
In a letter released by the Capitol Police Tuesday morning, acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman paid tribute to the officers who lost their lives defending the Capitol in January and charted a path forward for the agency.
“We will never forget USCP Officers Brian Sicknick and Howie Liebengood, who died after the attack, nor the sacrifices of the nearly 150 law enforcement officers who were injured,” she wrote. “Throughout the last six months, the United States Capitol Police has been working around the clock with our Congressional stakeholders to support our officers, enhance security around the Capitol Complex, and pivot towards an intelligence-based protective agency.”
A Jan. 6 rally in support of then-President Donald Trump turned deadly after Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s election win.
Rioters breached barricades and security checkpoints, forcing Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers to evacuate or shelter in place and temporarily disrupting the certification. Five people, including Sicknick, died during or after the riot, 140 police officers were injured and the Capitol building suffered approximately $1.5 million in damage.
Pittman touted changes the agency has made since then, such as increased information sharing and training.
She wrote that the U.S. Capitol Police have opened offices in Florida and California to monitor threats outside the district, with more offices set to open, and is working with congressional oversight committees so the Capitol Police can immediately request assistance from the National Guard.
The National Guard, which was stationed at the Capitol since Jan. 6, left on May 24.
“Those are just some of the improvements the United States Capitol Police is making, with the support of our Congressional stakeholders, in the wake of the January 6 attack,” Pittman wrote.
The Justice Department has charged more than 500 people with actions related to the riot at the Capitol — with crimes ranging from misdemeanors to conspiracy.
The FBI is still on the hunt for the suspect who it said placed pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee the night before the riot.
The U.S. Capitol has seen an increase in physical security measures since the riot as well.
In a statement, Capitol police said they don’t discuss plans due to security concerns, but the outer permitter of the fencing that has been around the Capitol since right after the attack came down on March 24 and the remainder is slated to come down this week, sources familiar with the plan told ABC News.
The move comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a House committee to investigate the events of Jan. 6 last week after Republicans in the Senate blocked the creation of a bipartisan committee to investigate the attack in a late May vote.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed to investigative work being done by Senate committees, most notably a joint effort by the Senate Rules and Homeland Security, as evidence for why a bipartisan commission was not needed.
That joint effort yielded a 95-page report that found significant breakdowns ranging “from federal intelligence agencies failing to warn of a potential for violence to a lack of planning and preparation by (U.S. Capitol Police) and law enforcement leadership.”
But the joint report was narrow in scope and did not examine events leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Democrats called for further action, prompting Pelosi to form the select committee.
She tapped GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who was stripped from her No. 3 leadership position in the House Republican conference due to her criticism of Trump, to serve on the committee, along with seven other Democrats.
“We are very honored and proud she has agreed to serve on the committee,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.
House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., will serve as chairman, which was widely expected.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is allowed to appoint five Republicans to the committee, in consultation with Pelosi, who has ultimate veto power, but McCarthy has not yet named Republican members to the committee.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The tropical storm’s path is sparing Miami, where rescuers are still searching for victims of the deadly Surfside condo collapse.
Elsa will pass the Tampa Bay area overnight Tuesday into Wednesday and is forecast to make landfall just north of Tampa Bay before sunrise.
Tampa International Airport is suspending operations at 5 p.m. Tuesday with plans to resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Elsa’s winds are expected to reach 70 mph at the time of landfall; storms need winds 74 mph or higher to be considered a hurricane.
Storm surge could reach 5 feet around Tampa Bay, an area very susceptible to flooding due to the coastal, low-lying topography.
The heaviest rainfall — 6 to 10 inches — will be north of Tampa.
Flooding is possible for most of Florida — from Naples to Jacksonville — and could extend into Georgia.
Residents should be prepared to be without power for the next few days, but widespread evacuations aren’t expected, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
After barreling through Florida, Elsa will join a cold front and will become a hybrid storm system, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to Georgia, the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic by later in the week.
Elsa is expected to reemerge off the New Jersey coast, dropping heavy rain and winds on Atlantic City, New York City, Long Island, Boston and Cape Cod.
Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
At least 32 people, including three children, have been confirmed dead and 113 others remain unaccounted for since a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last month.
Four more bodies were recovered, officials announced Tuesday morning.
The partial collapse occurred around 1:15 a.m. on June 24 at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the pancaked layers of debris in hopes of finding survivors.
The part of the building that remained standing was cleared of any people or pets before it was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity. However, it was too dangerous for surviving residents to enter the building to retrieve their belongings, officials said.
“Obviously it wasn’t worth that risk,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference in Surfside on Monday. “We cannot lose any more people.”
The massive search and rescue mission is now in its 13th day, as teams are able to operate at full capacity and search in areas that were previously inaccessible. At least four more bodies have been recovered from the wreckage since the demolition.
“The heavy equipment is now able to move around the site as needed,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said at the press conference. “The looming threat of that building, the dangerous situation where debris could fall down is now eliminated.”
Burkett told reporters that the search and rescue operation will continue 24 hours a day until everyone is pulled from the rubble. But the hope that more people would be found alive appeared to be fading, as no survivors have been discovered in the debris since the morning of the partial collapse. Among those recently found dead was the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter.
Meanwhile, 190 people who were living or staying in the condominium at the time of the disaster have been accounted for and are safe, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who has stressed that the figures are “very fluid.”
Video released by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday night showed crews working atop the pile, braving the elements as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the Sunshine State.
The incoming storm, which has weakened from a hurricane, initiated the discussion about demolishing the rest of the building and fast-tracked the process, according to Burkett. Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday and by Tuesday morning, the storm’s center was moving through Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation.
Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
A structural field survey report from October 2018, which was among hundreds of pages of public documents released by the town of Surfside late Sunday, said the waterproofing below the condominium’s pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing “major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas.”
A slew of lawsuits against the Champlain Towers South Condo Association have already been filed on behalf of survivors and victims, alleging the partial collapse could have been avoided and that the association knew or should have known about the structural damage. A spokesperson for the association told ABC News they cannot comment on pending litigation but that their “focus remains on caring for our friends and neighbors during this difficult time.”
The association’s board released a statement last Friday saying its surviving members “have concluded that, in the best interest of all concerned parties, an independent Receiver should be appointed to oversee the legal and claims process.”
“We know that answers will take time as part of a comprehensive investigation,” the statement continued, “and we will continue to work with city, state, local, and federal officials in their rescue efforts, and to understand the causes of this tragedy.”
(NEW YORK) — David and Sabrina Jaramillo took their family to an amusement park on Saturday to celebrate their eldest son’s birthday, hoping to “have a good time.” But a tragic accident on a water ride left one of their children dead and another in a medically induced coma.
“I will never get a chance to see him grow up or get a chance to see him graduate,” Sabrina Jaramillo told ABC News in an exclusive interview that aired Tuesday on Good Morning America.
“He was just taken from us,” David Jaramillo added. “Love your kids. You just don’t know when they’ll be taken.”
The Jaramillos had gone on several other rides before getting in line for the Raging River at Adventureland Park, a family-owned amusement park in Altoona, a suburb of Iowa’s capital city, Des Moines. The parents boarded a raft with their 15-year-old son, David, their 11-year-old son, Michael, their youngest son, Gus, and their niece, Mila. As they buckled their seatbelts and embarked on the river rapids ride, their tube suddenly flipped over, leaving them all trapped underwater.
“I see the silhouettes of my sons trying to grab each other, grab us,” the father recalled. “They want us to help them. We couldn’t do it.”
Both parents as well as one of their sons and their niece ultimately managed to break free and swim to the surface. But David and Michael were still stuck and no one could reach them.
“I’m drowning,” the father said. “The river was so intense, it was like a suction.”
The family screamed for help. Witnesses and first responders jumped in the water and eventually helped get the other kids out of the tube.
Both David and Michael were transported to a local hospital in critical condition, while the others were treated for minor injuries. Michael died from his injuries on Sunday, while David remains hospitalized in critical condition, according to the Altoona Police Department.
“Our thoughts and prayers are are with the Jaramillo family as they navigate the heartbreaking loss of their child,” police said in a statement Monday. “Altoona Detective are working with the State Inspector and Adventureland Park to understand this tragic accident.”
The Jaramillos described Michael as a “good kid.”
“His heart was bigger than him,” the father told ABC News.
“He was a baby and I feel like Adventureland robbed me of my baby,” the mother added, breaking down in tears.
Adventureland Park said in a statement Sunday that it was “saddened to learn of the passing of one Guest.” An investigation into the deadly incident is ongoing and the ride remains closed for a “thorough inspection,” the park said. The Raging River ride was last inspected on Friday and “was found to be in sound working order,” according to the park.
“Adventureland is working closely with both the State and local authorities, and would like to thank them again for their efforts,” the park added. “At this time, we ask for your thoughts and prayers for the Guest and their family, as well as for our team members who were onsite.”
An attorney for Adventureland Park insisted that the Raging River ride is “safe.”
“The Raging River ride has been in operation for nearly four decades,” the attorney told ABC News in a statement Monday. “The ride was inspected by the State of Iowa the day before the incident and was in good working order.”
But it’s not the first fatal accident to occur on that ride. A seasonal employee, 68-year-old Steve Booher, was killed in June 2106 after falling onto the conveyor belt while helping guests get in and out of their rafts.
The Jaramillos have been in the hospital by David’s side, waiting for their eldest son to wake up from the medically induced coma as he fights for his life. He turns 16 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, their youngest son, Gus, is struggling to cope with what happened.
“He’s scared. It is a nightmare,” the father told ABC News. “He closes his eyes and thinks about the water. When he wakes up, he realizes the nightmare’s true. So there’s no peace.”
