A 43-year-old security guard was extracted alive from the ruins of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping centre in Catia La Mar on Thursday, more than eight days after twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores had been trapped in the basement parking area since the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude tremors on 24 June caused the seven-storey structure to partially collapse. Rescue coordinators from Chile and Costa Rica confirmed that he was conscious and communicating with teams when he was finally reached after a continuous operation lasting over 50 hours.

Gil survived because the small security cabin where he was working remained largely intact, creating a protective void beneath an estimated 140 tonnes of concrete and steel. According to his wife, Gusbimar González, he had taken cover under a table and chair during the initial shaking and sustained no major traumatic injuries. Rescuers first detected signs of life on 28 June when a Chilean firefighter observed a hand moving through a narrow gap. From that point, specialists from Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Portugal, Mexico and El Salvador worked in rotating shifts, using only manual tools to avoid triggering further collapses in the severely compromised structure. They supplied more than 10 litres of water and a flexible oxygen line through a small shaft, while a telescopic camera allowed constant visual monitoring.

Venezuelan authorities have placed the confirmed death toll from the earthquakes at 2,595, with 12,400 injured and thousands displaced, primarily in the coastal state of La Guaira. International search-and-rescue teams from over 30 countries continue to comb through damaged buildings, though the window for finding survivors has narrowed sharply. Medical sources at the Hospital de Clínicas Caracas, where Gil was taken, reported that he was in stable condition with a dislocated left clavicle and minor pulmonary and cranial findings, and was being kept in intensive care for observation.

The rescue was one of the few successful live extractions in the disaster’s second week. A three-year-old boy had been pulled from debris six days after the quakes, but most operations now recover only bodies. Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez thanked international responders, while Brazilian mission chief Armin Braun noted that his teams would continue searching for signs of life for several more days before shifting focus to medical and humanitarian assistance. The official casualty count remains provisional as aftershocks persist and access to some collapsed structures is still limited.