Rescuers on Thursday pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement, eight days after twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was extracted safely from beneath the rubble of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal town of La Guaira, where he had been trapped since June 24.
International rescue teams, carrying flags from various nations, cheered as Gil, wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace, was carried on a stretcher covered by an orange tarp into a Red Cross ambulance. Teams sustained him with food and water while excavating the debris, managing to keep him alive well beyond the typical 48-to-72-hour survival threshold.
Gil Flores was inside his small security cabin in the basement when the first tremor struck. The surrounding concrete structure collapsed, but his workstation held, creating a pocket of air that shielded him from the crushing debris and allowed him to survive.