Venezuelan Trapped Rescue Ongoing One Week After Quakes

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Rescue crews worked tirelessly into the night on Wednesday to free a 43-year-old Venezuelan man who had been trapped under the rubble of a seven-story building for a week, an AFP journalist observed. Hernan Gil, a security guard, was stuck inside his booth beneath the collapsed structure in Catia La Mar, an area nearly destroyed in the twin earthquakes on June 24, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes.

Teams from seven nations—Venezuela, Chile, the U.S., Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico—have been operating nonstop over the past three days to reach him. By late Wednesday, they had come within about a meter of his location, according to rescuers. Chile’s fire department shared a video on Instagram showing Gil inside his shelter, turning his head to look at the camera. He was wearing a face mask, and his right eye appeared bloodshot.

Gil’s wife, Gusbimar Gonzalez, described the rescue as a miracle. “I’m completely stunned because I’ve never seen so many countries come together to save just one person,” she said. The news of the ongoing rescue effort came after a day in which hopes of finding more survivors had diminished, now seven days after the devastating earthquakes, which resulted in nearly 2,300 deaths and left thousands more missing.

While rescuers approached Gil, others kept watch over an adjacent building that was at risk of collapsing further. Since Monday, teams had been reinforcing the building’s foundation with wood and iron to prevent a total structural collapse. As part of the operation, they provided Gil with water to stay hydrated and installed a tube to supply him with air. The rescue teams advanced along two separate paths to reach him.

Cristian Vera, head of the Chilean rescue squad, explained that accessing the site was complex. “This is a very difficult structure to get into,” he said, noting that the presence of large pillars hindered efforts to pinpoint his exact location. An initial plan to create a 24-inch tunnel was abandoned on Tuesday after the building shifted slightly. “We had to develop a new approach to enter through a different route than the one we used last night,” Vera added.