In a remarkable story of survival, a 43-year-old security guard in Venezuela was miraculously found alive beneath the ruins of a shopping center on Thursday. This comes eight days after devastating twin earthquakes claimed the lives of more than 2,200 individuals.
Rescuers pulled Hernán Alberto Gil Flores from the debris of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center, located in the coastal state of La Guaira. He had been trapped there since the earthquakes rocked the area on June 24.
Minyar Collado, a rescuer from the Costa Rican Red Cross, shared with The Associated Press that upon being discovered, Gil Flores expressed a poignant wish. He requested that rescue teams not inform his wife of his survival, fearing he might not make it in the end.
Signs of life were first detected over the weekend by rescuers, sparking hope as they worked tirelessly to reach Gil Flores beneath the debris.
Captured in a powerful image, rescue workers attend to Hernán Alberto Gil Flores moments after his rescue from the rubble in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, on Thursday, July 2, 2026. This moment has been preserved through the lens of AP photographer Fernando Vergara.
Gil Flores was working an overnight shift when the first earthquake struck. While much of the building collapsed around him, his small security booth stayed intact, protecting him from the falling concrete and leaving enough space for him to survive.
Rescue crews worked through aftershocks, torrential rain and unstable rubble to reach him. They used a telescopic camera to communicate with Gil Flores and lowered water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft to keep him alive during the final days of the rescue.
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores Gil after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
His wife, Gusbimar González, said the family’s despair turned to hope after rescuers reached her husband.
“When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness,” she told the AP. The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.
Video from the scene showed rescuers carrying Gil Flores on a stretcher covered with an orange tarp through cheering crowds before loading him into a Red Cross ambulance. Members of the Costa Rican Red Cross hugged one another after the rescue.
Rescue workers carry Hernán Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
The operation was led by Chilean firefighters and included search-and-rescue teams from Costa Rica, the United States, Portugal, Mexico and other countries.
The shopping center collapsed after twin earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela on June 24, destroying tens of thousands of buildings, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring more than 11,000 others.
Gil Flores’ rescue offered a rare moment of hope after days of devastation.
On Tuesday, emergency workers rescued a 2-year-old boy who had been trapped beneath the rubble for six days.
A man wearing a Barcelona soccer team jersey searches through earthquake rubble in La Guaira, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
On Saturday, the U.S. State Department shared video showing American search-and-rescue teams pulling a 9-month-old girl alive from a collapsed structure. The infant was rescued along with her mother, the State Department told News Media. Both suffered only minor injuries, according to the rescue team.
The U.S. government has mobilized $150 million in humanitarian aid to help Venezuela respond to the disaster.