Man, 44, rescued from Venezuela earthquake rubble after 8 days
by Lisa Hornung · UPIJuly 2 (UPI) -- A man was rescued alive after eight days trapped under rubble of a nine-story building in La Guaira, Venezuela, after two earthquakes devastated the area.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, 44, was buried under 29-feet of wreckage from a collapsed shopping mall parking lot. He had been working from a concrete booth in the garage underground, which may have helped protect him from injury, rescuers said.
He is in good condition, and "He has now been transferred to a medical facility," said the Chilean fire brigade in a post on X. The brigade said it took 70 hours to rescue Flores.
Twin earthquakes hit Venezuela on June 24, killing thousands. Officially, nearly 2,300 people are confirmed dead from the quakes, and tens of thousands are missing. The city of La Guaira, on the Atlantic coast was one of the hardest hit in the quakes,
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez -- the acting president's brother -- announced on Wednesday that at least 2,295 had died, which is about 350 more than the day before. But the number of injured and killed is believed to be much larger.
One forensic pathologist, who asked to remain anonymous, told CNN the morgue where she works in La Guaira is processing around 400 bodies a day.
Rescue teams from Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal and the United States worked to free Flores.
Flores' wife, Gusbimar Gonzales, told CNN just before the rescue that she had had "days of great sorrow" after the quakes when she thought he might be dead.
"But once I found out that he was alive I saw a ray of sunshine," she said. "He was holding up like a hero."
She added that his children are waiting for him at home.
Emergency crews said they had been talking with Flores and giving him water, food and medication, Ricardo Arias from the Costa Rican Red Cross said.
"He has told us that he does not even have a crushed nail," Aria told the BBC. "He is fine."
Marco Antonio Franco from the Mexican Red Cross described Gil as "a cheerful man," the BBC reported.
He told a Mexican news site that Flores "even asked for hydration drinks of specific flavors he likes," and said that, "of course we indulged him."