where officials are planning to tear down the still standing portions of the building before tropical storm elsa hits. we are hearing amazing stories of survival from residents who were able to escape from the building on june 24th. randi kaye introduces us to two of them. i hear boom and my bed shake and i see my apartment is shaking. reporter: when champlain towers south shook, esther was in bed, quickly making her way to the stairwell. soon alfredo lopez spotted her. he and his family had escaped apartment 605. she told me her knee was bothering her and she wanted to stop. stopping was not an option.
all right. natasha chen, thank you so much there in surfside, florida. all right, so as the search for survivors enters day nine we re also hearing incredible stories of how some residents escaped the collapse. cnn s randi kaye introduces us to two survivors who got out with moments to spare and reunited again for the first time in front of our cameras. i hear boom. my bed shake. i see my apartment is shaking. reporter: when champlain towers south shook in the middle of the night esther was in bed on the fifth floor, the 8-year-old grandmother quickly made her way from unit 509 to the stair well. soon alfredo lopez spotted her. she said her knee was bothering her and wanted to stop, you know, i told her, you know, stopping is not an option. there was no way you would let her stay. no, it just didn t even occur
. last two survivors got back together to recount their narrow escape. cnn s randi kaye has this. i hear boom and my bed shake and i see my apartment is shaking. reporter: when champlain towers shook in the middle of the night, esther was in the bed. she quickly made her way from unit 5089 to the stairwell. soon alfredo lopez spotted her. he and his family had escaped apartment 605. esther told me her knee was bothering her, she wanted to stop. i told her stopping is not an option, you know? reporter: there was no way you were going to let her stay? no. just didn t even occur to me. she s a human being.
right now but thank you so much for highlighting some of these issues for us. heather barr from human rights watch. really appreciate it. the delta variant of the coronavirus is forcing lockdowns in countries around the world and pushing case numbers sharply up. after the break we ll talk to a medical expert about the risks. plus, one woman gets the chance to thank the man who saved her from the florida condo collapse. bring you their reunion ahead. i hear boom and my bed shake and i see my apartment is shaking.
but certainly, a very, very difficult situation for them, like it is for so many families here in the surfside area. also, tonight, john. we are learning more about those who ran for safety, as that building came crumbling down around them. and we are hearing stories of neighbors jumping into action to save neighbors. we met two of them, today. i hear a boom and my bed shake. and i see my my apartment is shaking. reporter: when champlain tower south shook in the middle of the night, esther was in bed on the fifth floor. the 88-year-old grandmother, quickly, made her way from unit 509 to the stairwell. soon, alfredo lopez spotted her. he and his family had escaped apartment 605. i remember esther told me she had her knee was bothering her and that she wanted to stop. you know, i told her, you know, stopping is not an option. you know? there was no way you were going to let her stay. no, i just like, it just