Venezuelan security guard pulled alive from basement eight days after twin quakes
Rescuers in Venezuela freed a 43-year-old security guard from rubble eight days after twin earthquakes, offering a rare moment of hope amid devastation.
Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early on Thursday, ending a gruelling operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela eight days earlier. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores emerged covered in dust atop a stretcher, surrounded by helmet-clad rescue workers, after being trapped since 24 June under rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping centre in La Guaira.
Rescuers, who initially made contact with Gil Flores over the weekend, worked more than 100 hours to free him, navigating a highly unstable structure, torrential rain and persistent aftershocks. Teams carrying flags from around the world cheered as Gil Flores, wearing an oxygen mask and covered in an orange tarp, was carried to an ambulance. One Chilean rescuer pumped his fist in joy; Costa Rican Red Cross workers embraced.
Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado said: “When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn’t make it.” She added: “We were never going to leave him here.” The rescue was considered a small miracle. By supplying Gil Flores with food and water while removing concrete, teams kept him alive far longer than the typical 48- to 72-hour survival threshold.
Gil Flores, a night-shift security guard, was inside his small security cabin when the first violent tremor struck. The cabin held ground, shielding him from debris and creating a vital air pocket. A Costa Rican Red Cross team first detected signs of life on Sunday. His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP: “When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness.” The couple have two children, aged eight and ten.
The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters, working with teams from the US, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela. Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez celebrated the rescue on social media: “We celebrate the greatness of humanity, when it is united for a single purpose: to save another. Thank you to our rescuers and to the support of the international rescuers.”
Teams used a telescopic camera and passed water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft. Chilean firefighter María Paz Campos talked him through the final hours. In a video, Gil Flores is seen drawing; Campos tells him to keep goggles on. The building collapse was triggered by two back-to-back earthquakes on 24 June registering 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes, killing over 2,200 and injuring over 11,000 across northern Venezuela.
