Trapped for 8 days, Venezuelan man pulled alive from building collapse

Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from the basement of a collapsed building early Thursday, ending a gruelling eight-day operation that became a symbol of hope after the twin earthquakes that devastated Venezuela.

Hernn Alberto Gil Flores had remained trapped under the rubble since June 24 in the basement of the Galeras Playa Grande shopping centre in the coastal town of La Guaira. Rescue teams first established contact with him over the weekend before successfully extracting him on Thursday.

Teams carrying flags from across the world cheered as rescuers carried Gil, wearing an oxygen mask, on a stretcher covered with an orange tarp through crowds of people to a Red Cross ambulance. Members of the Costa Rican Red Cross, dressed in red uniforms, embraced one another, laughed in relief and applauded after the successful rescue.

The rescue emerged as a rare moment of hope after days of tragedy. Rescue teams kept Gil alive by supplying him with food and water while excavating the collapsed concrete structure. Their efforts enabled him to survive well beyond the 48-to-72-hour period that rescue operations generally consider the critical window for finding survivors after disasters.

Gil worked as a night-shift security guard at the shopping complex and was inside his small security cabin when the first powerful earthquake struck. Although the surrounding concrete structure collapsed, his workstation cabin remained intact, shielding him from crushing debris and creating a vital air pocket.

"When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn't make it," Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press. "We were never going to leave him here," she added.

A specialized team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and established contact with Gil on Sunday.

His wife, Gusbimar Gonzlez, told The Associated Press that she endured days of despair before rescuers informed her they had reached him. "When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness," she said. The couple has two children, aged 8 and 10.

An urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters coordinated the operation with specialised teams from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela.

Rescuers worked around the clock despite an unstable structure, torrential rain and persistent aftershocks. They used a telescopic camera to maintain constant communication with Gil and passed water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him hydrated during the final three days of the rescue operation.

Mara Paz Campos, a veteran firefighter from Chile, spoke with Gil throughout the operation and helped keep him calm during the final hours before his rescue.

In a video released by the Chilean firefighters shortly before the rescue, Gil appeared to draw while waiting underground. Campos instructed him to look at the camera and wear protective goggles.

"I need you to keep the goggles on, for the small particles that are falling, to avoid them getting into your eye," Campos told the trapped survivor.

The Galeras Playa Grande shopping centre collapsed after two back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24 with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. The shallow and powerful tremors damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings across northern Venezuela, killed more than 2,200 people, injured over 11,000 and left La Guaira state as the country's hardest-hit region.

- Ends

With agency inputs.