Elderly Cuban couple dies after fire in Miami building

An elderly Cuban couple died in Miami-Dade County after a fire broke out early Saturday morning in their condominium.

The victims were identified as Nicanor and Gisela Padron, who lost their lives after a fire broke out around 5:30 a.m. at an apartment complex located in the area of Southwest 18th Street near 20th Terrace, Local 10 News reported.

"We woke up and felt a smell of smoke... I went out into the corridor and activated the fire alarm," one of the neighbors, Ricardo Andrés Ocampo, told Telemundo 51.

"They started knocking on the doors for us to come down. Since I live in 210 and there was smoke upstairs too," resaid Nidia Perez, another resident of the building.

Miami-Dade firefighters arrived on the scene quickly and were able to evacuate all of the building's tenants, including the elderly couple. Despite taking the victims to the hospital, they did not survive.

"We saw that they took out the two little old men. Apparently, they swallowed a lot of smoke. They tried to revive them, but they did not respond," Perez added.

Firefighters confirmed that the fire started in the apartment below the elderly couple’s. The causes of the fire are still under investigation.

"Our hearts are burdened and our souls are broken. Nothing could have prepared us for such a horrible tragedy. Nicanor and Gisela were the most beautiful, kind, and generous human beings I knew," wrote their daughter-in-law on a GoFundMe page set up to get help with funeral expenses.