LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — A man was pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed shopping center in Venezuela on Thursday, more than eight days after powerful earthquakes struck the country, emergency officials said.
Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard, was rescued from beneath the debris of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal state of La Guaira, according to rescue teams and local authorities.
Gil Flores was trapped following twin earthquakes that hit northwestern and central Venezuela on June 24, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, officials and the U.S. Geological Survey have said. The quakes caused widespread destruction in La Guaira and the capital Caracas, killing more than 2,500 people and injuring over 12,000, according to government figures.
International and Venezuelan rescue teams, including specialists from Chile, the United States, Mexico, Portugal and Costa Rica, worked for days to reach him after he was located under heavy debris. Rescuers described the operation as delicate, with Gil Flores freed after spending more than 190 hours trapped.
Video footage showed emergency workers carefully extracting him from the site as crowds gathered nearby. He was taken to a medical facility for evaluation, officials said. His condition was not immediately detailed.
The rescue comes as search efforts continue across the affected region more than a week after the quakes, with hopes fading for additional survivors amid ongoing aftershocks and challenges including fuel shortages.
Venezuelan authorities have not released an updated overall toll of missing persons. The death count has risen steadily since the disaster, with Acting President Delcy Rodríguez citing at least 2,595 fatalities as of early July.
Rescue operations remain active at multiple sites, though many buildings destroyed in the quakes have yielded no further survivors in recent days.
The story is developing.
