Security guard survives eight days beneath collapsed shopping center after Venezuela earthquakes

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A 43-year-old information defender successful Venezuela was pulled live from nan ruins of a shopping halfway Thursday aft being trapped beneath nan rubble for 8 days pursuing copy earthquakes that killed much than 2,200 people.

Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was rescued from nan collapsed basement of nan Galerías Playa Grande shopping halfway successful nan coastal authorities of La Guaira, wherever he had been trapped since the powerful earthquakes struck June 24.

"When we recovered him, he asked america not to show his woman that he was alive, conscionable successful lawsuit he wouldn't make it," Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press.

Rescuers first made interaction pinch Gil Flores complete nan play aft detecting signs of life beneath nan debris.

BOY, 2, PULLED ALIVE FROM RUBBLE SIX DAYS AFTER VENEZUELA'S DEVASTATING TWIN EARTHQUAKES

Hernán Alberto Gil Flores connected stretcher

Rescue workers be to Hernán Alberto Gil Flores aft he was pulled from nan rubble 8 days aft he was trapped by copy earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Gil Flores was moving an overnight displacement erstwhile nan first earthquake struck. While overmuch of nan building collapsed astir him, his mini information booth stayed intact, protecting him from nan falling actual and leaving capable abstraction for him to survive.

Rescue crews worked done aftershocks, torrential rainfall and unstable rubble to scope him. They utilized a telescopic camera to pass pinch Gil Flores and lowered h2o and liquid nutrients done a constrictive shaft to support him live during nan last days of nan rescue.

Rescuers carrying man rescued from rubble done a crowd

Rescue workers transportation Hernán Alberto Gil Flores Gil aft he was pulled from nan rubble 8 days aft he was trapped by copy earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

His wife, Gusbimar González, said nan family's despair turned to dream aft rescuers reached her husband.

"When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of ray successful nan darkness," she told nan AP. The mates has 2 children, ages 8 and 10.

Video from nan segment showed rescuers carrying Gil Flores connected a stretcher covered pinch an orangish tarp done cheering crowds earlier loading him into a Red Cross ambulance. Members of nan Costa Rican Red Cross hugged 1 different aft nan rescue.

Hernán Alberto Gil Flores connected stretcher pinch emergency personnel

Rescue workers transportation Hernán Alberto Gil Flores aft he was pulled from nan rubble 8 days aft he was trapped by copy earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

The cognition was led by Chilean firefighters and included search-and-rescue teams from Costa Rica, nan United States, Portugal, Mexico and different countries.

EX-MLB PLAYER SAYS WIFE DIED IN DEVASTATING VENEZUELA EARTHQUAKES

The shopping halfway collapsed aft copy earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck bluish Venezuela connected June 24, destroying tens of thousands of buildings, sidesplitting much than 2,200 group and injuring much than 11,000 others.

Gil Flores' rescue offered a uncommon infinitesimal of dream after days of devastation.

On Tuesday, emergency workers rescued a 2-year-old boy who had been trapped beneath nan rubble for six days.

man stands connected earthquake rubble successful Venezuela

A man wearing a Barcelona shot squad jersey searches done earthquake rubble successful La Guaira, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

On Saturday, nan U.S. State Department shared video showing American search-and-rescue teams pulling a 9-month-old woman live from a collapsed structure. The babe was rescued on pinch her mother, nan State Department told Fox News Digital. Both suffered only insignificant injuries, according to nan rescue team.

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The U.S. authorities has mobilized $150 cardinal successful humanitarian aid to thief Venezuela respond to nan disaster.

Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz and Peter D'Abrosca, on pinch The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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