Newlywed couple from Brooklyn missing after Florida building collapse

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A local family is holding out hope that their loved ones, a newlywed couple who recently moved from Brooklyn, are safe after a massive building collapse in Florida.

For the families, the waiting is excruciating.

"We just wanna know where he is and how he's doing," Valery Manashirova said.

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Manashirova's brother, Dr. Russel Manashirova and his wife Nicole Doran moved to the seventh floor of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside to be closer to work. They just got married in May.

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"It was a beautiful wedding and they were just starting their lives," Manashirova said.

When she woke up Thursday, her father called her over to the TV.

"He had the news on and I'm looking at him -- and he says, Russel's building collapsed and I just couldn't believe that -- it just felt like a bad dream and it started getting more and more realistic," she said.

The images from Surfside were frighteningly familiar.

"We saw the building and it was on his side ... that's when it really hit me like I don't know what to do, you know?" Manashirova said.

She says her parents "couldn't just sit there."

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Valery Manashirova's parents made the drive but haven't gotten any more information down there.

"They're just being really hopeful and faithful -- they're trying to be as positive as they can," she said. "They're just praying for the best and wishing that they're gonna come home to him."

The family has been told there are people in hospitals there who are not yet identified. It is a hope they can hold on to.

"Is he in the hospital, is he in the rubble? We just wanna know already." Manashirova said.

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