Venezuela quake miracle: Man buried for 8 days rescued after 100-hour mission

Eight days under nearly 140 tonnes of rubble. A relentless 100-hour rescue. Against all odds, cc emerged alive from the devastation caused by Venezuela's twin earthquakes in a tale of survival worthy of a Hollywood screenplay.

Rescue workers in Venezuela pulled a 43-year-old security guard out alive from the basement of a collapsed shopping centre early on Thursday, ending a difficult operation that had gone on for days and had come to stand out as a rare sign of hope eight days after twin earthquakes struck the country, reported international news agency Associated Press.

As of Thursday, the death toll had risen to 2,595, with tens of thousands of people still missing.

Gil Flores was taken out on a stretcher, covered in dust and surrounded by rescuers in helmets, after teams spent more than 100 hours reaching him through an unstable structure, heavy rain and continuing aftershocks. He was wearing an oxygen mask and was covered with an orange tarp as he was carried through crowds to an ambulance, where rescue personnel checked his vital signs.

As he was taken away, teams carrying flags from different countries cheered. A Chilean rescuer helping to carry the stretcher raised his fist, while men in Costa Rican Red Cross uniforms hugged one another and laughed in relief. Others applauded.

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

The rescue continued well beyond the 48- to 72-hour period that is usually seen as critical in disaster operations because teams were able to keep Gil Flores alive by giving him food and water while they cleared concrete around him. He had been working the night shift as a security guard at the complex and was inside a small security cabin when the first strong tremor hit.

The surrounding concrete structure collapsed, but the cabin remained standing, shielding him from falling debris and leaving him with a pocket of air.

A specialised Costa Rican Red Cross team first detected signs of life and made contact with him on Sunday, after rescuers had initially reached him over the weekend.

His wife, Gusbimar Gonzlez, told AP that she had struggled with despair for days before learning that rescuers had reached him. "When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness," she said. The couple have two children, aged 8 and 10.

The operation was led by an urban search and rescue unit of Chilean firefighters, who worked non-stop with specialised teams from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela. They used a telescopic camera to remain in contact with Gil Flores and passed water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him hydrated during the final three days of the rescue.

Mara Paz Campos, a veteran firefighter from Chile, spoke to Gil Flores throughout the operation and helped keep him calm during the final hours on Thursday. In a video released by Chilean firefighters shortly before he was rescued, he is seen drawing while he waits. Campos then asked him to look at the camera and put on protective goggles. "I need you to keep the goggles on, for the small particles that are falling, to avoid them getting into your eye," she told him.

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodrguez marked the rescue on social media as her government faced criticism from many Venezuelans over what they described as an inadequate response to the crisis. In a post on X, she wrote, "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."

The shopping centre collapse was triggered by two back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 that struck on June 24. The shallow quakes damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings across northern Venezuela, leaving La Guaira state the worst-hit part of the country. Gil Flores's rescue brought to a close one of the most closely watched operations in the aftermath of the disaster.

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