An international rescue team pulled a man alive from a collapsed building on Thursday, eight days after two earthquakes shook Venezuela.
Hernan Gil, 43, was working as a security guard at a seven-story building in Catia La Mar when part of the building collapsed, trapping him in his security booth under the debris.
“When we found him, he told us not to tell his wife that he was alive, otherwise he wouldn’t do it,” Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told The Associated Press.
But, he added, “We were never going to leave her there.”
Gil’s wife, Gusbimar Gonzalez, was extremely happy with the news on Thursday.
“I’m totally amazed. This is the first time I’ve seen so many countries coming together for one purpose, to save one person,” he told AFP. “It’s truly a miracle.”
“He wasn’t hurt, he didn’t suffer any trauma, he just managed to hide under a table and a chair,” he said.
Rescue took three days
Rescuers from Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico worked around the clock for three days to save him.
They gave him water through a hose and inserted a tube through the debris to supply him with enough oxygen to survive.
“It was not easy to reach the exact location where the victim was,” Chilean rescue team leader Cristian Vera told AFP.
Many more to follow…