A Venezuelan security guard has been rescued alive after spending eight days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed shopping centre following the devastating earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24.
Forty-three-year-old Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was pulled from an estimated 140 tonnes of debris on Thursday after an international rescue operation that lasted more than 100 hours. His survival has been described by rescuers as nothing short of a miracle.
Gil Flores was working at the Galerías Playa Grande shopping centre in La Guaira when twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude caused the building to collapse. He had been inside a small concrete security booth in the basement parking area, which remained largely intact and created an air pocket that shielded him from the crushing debris above.
Rescue teams from Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal and the United States carefully navigated unstable rubble, persistent aftershocks and heavy rain to reach him. Contact was first established several days into the operation using a telescopic camera. Through a narrow access shaft, rescuers supplied him with water and liquid nutrients, allowing him to survive well beyond the typical 48 to 72-hour window associated with similar disasters.
The operation was repeatedly hampered by collapsing access tunnels and the constant threat of further structural failure. Despite the conditions, Gil Flores reportedly remained calm, speaking with rescuers about his family and even requesting specific flavours of hydration drinks while they worked to reach him.
When rescuers finally brought him to the surface, emergency workers erupted in applause and embraced one another in celebration. Gil Flores was carried on a stretcher to a waiting Red Cross ambulance and was reported to have escaped the ordeal without serious injuries.
Costa Rican Red Cross paramedic Allan Madrigal, who first heard Gil Flores calling for help, described the rescue as deeply emotional, saying he initially questioned whether he had actually heard a survivor. Another rescuer, Minyar Collado, recalled reassuring the trapped man that the team would never abandon him. According to rescuers, Gil Flores had asked them not to tell his wife he had been found alive in case the rescue was unsuccessful.
His wife, Gusbimar González, said she endured days of anguish before learning rescuers had made contact with her husband.
The rescue has provided a rare moment of hope amid Venezuela’s worst natural disaster in more than a century. Authorities say the earthquakes have killed 2,595 people, injured more than 11,000 and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings, while search teams continue looking for additional survivors.
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