A 43 year old man has been pulled from the basement of a collapsed shopping centre, eight days after deadly earthquakes hit Venezuela.
Hernan Alberto Gil Flores was working a night shift as a security guard at the Galerías Playa Grande in La Guaira, when two consecutive earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.6 magnitudes struck, and the building collapsed.
Alberto Gil became trapped during a night shift in a shopping centre. (AP: Fernando Vergara)
The small cabin Mr Flores was working from in the basement of the centre held ground, shielding him from debris and creating a vital pocket of air.
Rescue workers from the Costa Rican Red Cross initially discovered signs of life and made contact with Mr Flores on Sunday.
Intricate rescue
A telescopic camera was used to maintain constant contact with Mr Flores.
For the remaining three days of the operation, water and liquid nutrients were passed through a narrow shaft to keep him hydrated.
Rescuers navigated highly unstable structural conditions, torrential rain and aftershocks to retrieve the survivor. (AP: Fernando Vergara)
The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters, who worked around the clock with specialised teams from the United States, Portugal and Mexico.
“We (were) never going to leave him here,” Costa Rican Red Cross worker Minyar Collado said before the rescue.
Rescuers navigated highly unstable structural conditions, torrential rain and persistent aftershocks to tunnel down to the survivor.
Maria Paz Campos, a veteran firefighter from Chile, talked him through the entire operation, and kept him calm during the final excruciating hours of Thursday.
In a video published by Chilean firefighters in the hours before the rescue, Mr Flores is seen drawing, seemingly to pass the time.
Ms Campos told Mr Flores 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,” Ms Campos told the Venezuelan survivor.
A team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and established contact with him on Sunday. (AP: Fernando Vergara)
Requested workers to not inform wife
Mr Collado said Mr Flores asked the team to not tell his wife.
“Just in case he wouldn’t make it,” he said.
His wife, Gusbimar González said she had days of despair before rescuers made contact.
“When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness.” Mrs Gonzalez said.
The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.
Tremors damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings across northern Venezuela, killing more than 2,200 people, injuring over 11,000 and leaving La Guaira state as the hardest-hit region in the country.
AP
