Man Rescued Alive After Eight Days Under Venezuela Earthquake Rubble

A 43-year-old security guard has been rescued alive after spending eight days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed shopping centre following the devastating twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela.

The survivor, Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, was pulled to safety on Thursday after a painstaking international rescue operation in the coastal city of La Guaira, one of the areas worst hit by the June 24 earthquakes.

Rescue teams from Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Portugal and the United States worked around the clock to reach Gil, who had been trapped beneath the collapsed Galerías Playa Grande shopping centre.

His survival was attributed to a small security cabin that remained intact, creating an air pocket that shielded him from the falling debris.

Emergency workers established contact with Gil several days before the rescue and managed to supply him with water and food while engineers carefully dug tunnels through unstable rubble to reach him safely.

The operation was complicated by aftershocks and the risk of further building collapse.

Television footage showed rescuers cheering as Gil, covered in dust and wearing an oxygen mask, was carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance before being taken to hospital for medical evaluation.

Officials said he was in stable condition following the rescue.

The dramatic rescue has offered a rare moment of hope amid the country’s worst natural disaster in more than a century.

The twin earthquakes have killed more than 2,200 people, injured thousands and left widespread destruction across northern Venezuela, with search and relief efforts continuing.