Fernanda Pesce and Juan Pablo Arraez
Catia La Mar: Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early Thursday, ending a grueling day-long operation that was a sign of hope after the devastation of two earthquakes that hit Venezuela eight days ago.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores emerged safely on a stretcher surrounded by helmeted rescuers. after being caught since June 24 under the rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal town of La Guaira.
Rescuers, who initially contacted her over the weekend, worked for more than 100 hours to free her – navigating unstable structure, heavy rain and a series of aftershocks to guide down survivors.
Flag-carrying teams from around the world cheered as rescuers carried Gil Flores, wearing an oxygen mask and wrapped in an orange tarp, through the crowd to an ambulance.
A Chilean rescuer carrying his stretcher pumped his fists with joy. A group of men in the red uniforms of the Costa Rican Red Cross hugged and laughed quietly. Others clapped.
“When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he didn’t make it,” Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press, but added “We will never leave him here.”
The rescue was considered a minor miracle cut off the disaster week. By giving Gil Flores food and water while digging for concrete, rescue groups were able to keep him alive longer than the 48- to 72-hour threshold that most operations provide for disaster survivors.
Gil Flores, who worked as a night shift security guard at the complex, was inside his small security room when the first violent tremor occurred. As the surrounding concrete structure crumbled around him, his cabin held on, protecting him from crushing debris and creating a vital air pocket.
A special team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first noticed signs of life and contacted him on Sunday.
His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP that she struggled with despair for days before hearing that rescuers had been contacted.
“When I knew he was alive, I saw rays of light in the darkness,” he said. The couple has two children, aged eight and 10.
The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters, who worked through the night with specialized teams from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela.
Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez celebrated the rescue on social media at a time when his government has been criticized for what many Venezuelans say has been an inadequate solution to the crisis.
“We celebrate the greatness of humanity, when it is united for one purpose: to save another. Thank you to our rescuers and the help of international rescuers,” he wrote in a post on X.
Teams used a telescopic camera to help maintain constant contact with Gil Flores, passing water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him alive during the final three days of the rescue.
María Paz Campos, a veteran firefighter from Chile, talked him through the process and kept him calm during his final hours of grief on Thursday.
In a video posted by Chilean firefighters a few hours before the rescue, Gil Flores is seen drawing, seemingly passing the time. Campos then gently tells him to look at the camera and put on the goggles.
“I need you to put on glasses, for the small particles that fall, to avoid getting into your eye,” Campos told the Venezuelan survivor.
The collapse of the building was triggered by two earthquakes that occurred on June 24 that recorded a magnitude of 7.2 and 7.5 respectively. The shallow, powerful earthquakes damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings in northern Venezuela, killing more than 2,200 people, injuring more than 11,000 and leaving the state of La Guaira as the country’s worst-hit region.
AP
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