Man Survives After Being Trapped 8 Days In Earthquake Rubble

CATIA LA MAR: Despite the continuously rising death toll, a miracle occurred yesterday when a man was successfully brought out alive after being trapped for eight days under the rubble of a building following the twin earthquakes in Venezuela.

Rescue teams worked tirelessly for more than 100 hours to free the victim, Hernan Gil, since he was first detected beneath 140 tonnes of debris.

A firefighter from Chile described the rescue operation as the most complex and technically difficult operation he had ever handled without a doubt.

In the earthquake disaster that struck Venezuela on 24 June, tens of thousands of victims are still reported missing.

A paramedic from the Costa Rican Red Cross, Allan Madrigal, told reporters at the scene that Gil was in very good condition as soon as he was successfully freed from his ordeal.

Madrigal was the first person to hear Gil’s faint voice calling for help from beneath the rubble on Sunday.

“It was a very emotional moment. At first, I could not believe my own ears and had to ask a colleague to confirm that I was not hallucinating,” Madrigal recalled.

From that moment on, rescue teams worked tirelessly digging through the rubble to free the security guard.

When the twin earthquakes struck, Gil was on duty inside a small concrete booth in the basement of a car park located next to the Galerias Playa Grande shopping centre in Catia La Mar.

The structure of the concrete booth is believed to have formed a sort of ‘shield’ around him, thus protecting the victim from being crushed by the 140 tonnes of debris that collapsed around and above him.

AGENSI