A Venezuelan security guard has been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed shopping centre after spending eight days buried beneath the debris left by devastating earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24.
According to Antigua News Room, Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, 43, was extracted from an estimated 140 tonnes of debris on Thursday following an international rescue operation spanning more than 100 hours. Rescuers described his survival as nothing short of a miracle.
Gil Flores had been on duty at the Galerías Playa Grande shopping centre in La Guaira when twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude caused the structure to collapse. He was inside a small concrete security booth in the basement parking area at the time. The booth remained largely intact, forming an air pocket that shielded him from the crushing weight of the debris above.
Rescue teams from Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal and the United States worked through unstable rubble, persistent aftershocks and heavy rain to reach him. Rescuers made first contact several days into the operation using a telescopic camera. Through a narrow access shaft, they supplied Gil Flores with water and liquid nutrients, sustaining him well beyond the 48 to 72-hour survival window typically associated with similar disasters.
The operation faced repeated setbacks, including collapsing access tunnels and the constant risk of further structural failure. Despite the dire conditions, Gil Flores reportedly remained calm throughout, speaking with rescuers about his family and even requesting specific flavours of hydration drinks as they worked to reach him.
When he was finally brought 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 had initially questioned whether he had truly heard a survivor. Fellow rescuer Minyar Collado recalled reassuring the trapped man that the team would never abandon him. Gil Flores had also asked rescuers not to inform his wife he had been found alive, fearing the rescue might ultimately prove unsuccessful.
His wife, Gusbimar González, said she endured days of anguish before learning that contact had been made with her husband.
The rescue has offered a rare moment of hope amid what authorities are calling Venezuela's worst natural disaster in more than a century. Officials report that the earthquakes have killed 2,595 people, injured more than 11,000 and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings. Search teams continue to scour the wreckage for additional survivors.
