ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — The body of a Rose-Hulman alumnus was recovered, along with those of his wife and youngest child, in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condominium.
Paraguay’s foreign minister said Thursday that rescuers had found the bodies of Sophia López Moreira, the sister of Paraguay’s first lady Silvana Abdo, her husband Luis Pettengill, and the youngest of their three children.
Pettengill graduated from Rose-Hulman in 2007.
“We extend our sympathies to the family and others who were touched by Luis’s spirit and friendship,” President Robert A. Coons said after hearing the news.
Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo told Paraguay’s ABC Cardinal radio station that the two other children and the family’s nanny, Lady Luna, are still missing.
“We ask people for their solidarity and a prayer,” he said. “In the face of a tragedy, Paraguayan people must show their traditional solidarity.”
Juana Villalba, mother of Lady Luna, is in Miami awaiting news about her daughter. Villalba traveled along with her niece Lourdes Luna from their South American country.
The Paraguayans were among several Latin American citizens who were reported in the condominium when it collapsed in June 24th. Others in the building came from Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay.
Rescue workers are now focused on finding remains instead of survivors.
