DistantNews
Support us
🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Disasters & Emergencies

Deported Venezuelans missing after hotel collapse in earthquake zone

From The Guardian · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Ongoing story
  • Over 100 Venezuelans recently deported from the U.S. were staying in a hotel in La Guaira when earthquakes struck Venezuela, leading to a search for survivors and bodies.
  • A deportation flight from Miami carrying 146 Venezuelans arrived hours before the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes hit the country.
  • Survivors described escaping the collapsed hotel, with one recounting being buried and then able to escape the rubble.

A hotel in La Guaira, Venezuela, collapsed during recent earthquakes, trapping over 100 recently deported Venezuelans who had arrived on a U.S. flight hours earlier.

We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication.

— Lisbeth PortilloPortillo described her experience after escaping the collapsed hotel.

The deportation flight from Miami carried 146 Venezuelans, including women and children, according to ICE Flight Monitor. They were taken to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where they were to receive medical exams and identification before returning home the next day.

I was born again; God gave me a second chance.

— Lisbeth PortilloPortillo expressed her feelings after surviving the earthquake and escaping the rubble.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, was among those who escaped the rubble. She described the terrifying experience of being shaken awake and then buried by debris. "I started hearing, ‘Papa, papa papapa,’ and I saw the women next to me start to fall," she recounted. "They were all screaming for help."

I am traumatized.

— Lisbeth PortilloPortillo described her emotional state after the ordeal.

Portillo managed to escape after the shaking shifted the debris pinning her. She and about 20 other deportees walked for kilometers seeking help, many barefoot and some naked, before reaching a national guard building where they could contact relatives. "I was born again; God gave me a second chance," Portillo said, though she remains traumatized by the event.

I started hearing, ‘Papa, papa papapa,’ and I saw the women next to me start to fall. They were all screaming for help.

— Lisbeth PortilloPortillo recounted the terrifying moments as the earthquake struck the hotel.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Guardian in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog