Husband, pregnant wife died in Surfside collapse; 1-year-old daughter still missing

The Sunday before Champlain Towers collapsed in Surfside, Vishal Patel’s niece Sarina Patel called to wish him a happy Father’s Day and to deliver some good news: She had just booked a ticket to Miami to see her uncle, his pregnant wife Bhavna and their one-year-old daughter Aishani, whom she had never met.

Four days later the condo collapsed, killing Vishal, 42, and Bhavna, 38, a dual British and U.S. citizen who was just over four months pregnant. Aishani has not been found. The couple, identified by Miami-Dade officials on July 9, lived in unit 311.

Vishal and Bhavna began their relationship thousands of miles and an ocean apart, Sarina Patel said. Vishal lived in California, while Bhavna resided in the UK.

“Bhavna had the sweetest soul and was the most down-to-earth person. She had a smile that could light up a room. Anything that brought you joy truly brought her joy, too,” she said. Vishal, too, she said, was a deeply genuine, kind person who never took himself too seriously. “He always knew how to liven up a party with his goofy faces and fun personality.”

Together, they were the perfect match, she said, balancing each other out and always bringing out the best in one another. They were in a long distance relationship for almost 10 years before they were married in New Jersey, where Vishal was raised.

“They had begun the life they had always dreamed of and were ecstatic to be expanding,” Sarina Patel said.

The two had just announced Bhavna’s pregnancy in May.

“We are so broken that we will never have gotten the opportunity to meet the fourth member of their charming family,” Sarina Patel said. “Vishal and Bhavna were extraordinary people with the biggest hearts full of compassion and love for all. Those who were lucky enough to have known them have truly been so blessed.”

The Patels had moved to Miami five years ago, and to Champlain Towers South two years ago. They knew nothing about the growing questions over the building’s structural integrity at the time, which emerged in 2018 after engineers pointed out evidence of flooding, cracking, corrosion and “major structural damage.” Rather, they chose the building for its beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean and its proximity to the beach, an idyllic place to begin their family life together, they thought. And their family did grow: In May 2020, Aishani Gia Patel was born.

“Aishani was the sun that lit up all our lives, she brought so much warmth and happiness upon her arrival. She had a laugh that would simply envelope you,” Sarina Patel told the Herald. Her parents doted on the little girl: “They were the most nurturing parents.”

Silvia Lugo, a photographer in Pembroke Pines, shot family portraits for Aishani’s birth and for her first birthday. The couple was planning to hire Lugo in a few months to photograph their second child, too. They were overjoyed with their little girl, Lugo said, and they wanted to document all the important milestones of her life. By the second photo shoot, she added, Aishani had just began to grow her first set of bottom teeth.

On Friday, Sarina Patel told a Herald reporter via text message that the identification has brought her family some peace after more than two weeks of not knowing.

“Their places in our lives are irreplaceable,” she said. “But we are grateful their suffering is over.”