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Over 100 Rescuers Battle to Save Man Trapped Under Rubble for Nearly a Week in Venezuela
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

Over 100 Rescuers Battle to Save Man Trapped Under Rubble for Nearly a Week in Venezuela

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • A rescue operation is underway in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, for a man trapped under rubble for nearly a week following major earthquakes.
  • Over 100 rescuers, including international teams from Portugal, Chile, and the U.S., are working on the delicate operation.
  • The man, Hernán Gil, is conscious and receiving hydration and medication, but extraction is slow due to structural instability.

Rescuers are engaged in a complex operation to free Hernán Gil, a Venezuelan man trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed building for nearly a week. The building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, was destroyed in recent magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes. Gil has been under the debris since the tremors struck.

The problem - to get him out - is for his safety, Hernán is in the basement, there is a lot of material load, it is a very sensitive operation because of that.

— RescuerExplaining the difficulty and sensitivity of the rescue operation.

A team of over 100 rescuers, including 64 specialists from Portugal, along with teams from Chile and the United States, are working cautiously. The primary challenge is ensuring Gil's safety during extraction, as he is located in the basement with significant material overhead. Rescuers are communicating with Gil, providing him with hydration and medication, but the process is slow and requires extreme care.

We are very close but need maximum safety, we are working slowly. We have to get closer to make it safe to extract him without compromising him or us.

— RescuerDescribing the cautious approach to extraction.

One of the Portuguese rescuers described the operation as "very sensitive" due to the precarious state of the debris. "We are very close but need maximum safety, we are working slowly. We have to get closer to make it safe to extract him without compromising him or us," the rescuer explained. The team is using sonic scanners to assess the situation, and the duration of the operation remains uncertain.

It is difficult to know how long, now we are working with a sonic scanner.

— RescuerOn the uncertain timeline for the rescue.

Gil's wife, Gusbimar González, has been at the site since the earthquakes. She reported that access to her husband is difficult and that rescuers are using manual tools to avoid further destabilizing the structure. According to government figures, Venezuela has received 3,660 foreign rescuers, 148 dogs, and support from 49 international delegations following the earthquakes. The government reports over 6,400 people rescued, at least 1,900 fatalities, and over 10,500 injured.

What they do tell me is that access to him is a bit difficult and that they are trying to remove the debris with manual tools because they cannot bring in machinery as the building is very affected.

— Gusbimar GonzálezWife of the trapped man, describing the extraction challenges.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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