Venezuela earthquake survivor pulled from rubble after video shows his waving fingers
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A man has been found alive and rescued after being buried under the rubble of a building that collapsed after two earthquakes hit Venezuela .
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On Thursday, emergency workers freed 44-year-old Hernan Alberto Gil Flores about 100 hours after they first located him under 140 tonnes of rubble, BBC reported.
Gil, was buried under wreckage from a collapsed shopping mall parking lot in La Guaira and was found eight days after the twin earthquakes rocked the country.
About 2,300 people were killed , and tens of thousands are still missing after the earthquakes hit Venezuela on June 24.
A Chilean firefighter described Gil’s rescue operation as “without doubt the most complex and technically difficult which I’ve had to tackle.”
‘Days of great sorrow’
Gil’s wife, Usbimar Gonzales, said in an interview with CNN that she had experienced “days of great sorrow” after the earthquakes fearing that her husband might be dead.
“But once I found out that he was alive I saw a ray of sunshine,” Gonzales said. “He was holding up like a hero.”
The woman said her children are waiting for Gil at home.
Video from the rescue showed the moment emergency personnel made visual contact via a search camera with Gil, who worked as a security guard at the mall.
The camera was fed into the collapsed basement of the building on Wednesday. Gil’s fingers could be seen waving through a small hole between layers of concrete and debris.
𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘 | El equipo USAR Bomberos de Chile (BoCH) continúa las labores de rescate de Hernán, venezolano que se encuentra atrapado con vida en un edificio derrumbado.
— Bomberos de Chile (@BomberosdeChile) July 2, 2026
El rescate está siendo liderado por el equipo chileno, que ha estado trabajando con equipos USAR de… pic.twitter.com/qKmTbtiAFG
First responders said they had been in contact with Gil, giving him food, water and medication through a hose and syringe, CNN reported.
Footage showed Gil’s head and shoulders popping up from amid the rubble. He can be seen with a bloodshot eye and wearing a mask.
𝗔𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗔 | Después de 5 días de trabajo ininterrumpido del equipo USAR de Bomberos de Chile en la zona afectada por el terremoto en Venezuela, localizaron con vida a una persona adulta atrapada bajo los escombros de un edificio colapsado, en uno de los procedimientos más… pic.twitter.com/A1vIyL4MJE
— Bomberos de Chile (@BomberosdeChile) June 30, 2026
A firefighter asked Gil to wear goggles to protect his eyes as rescuers worked to dig away the rubble around him to free him.
‘He does not even have a crushed nail’
Gil was in stable condition upon his rescue, Ricardo Arias of the Costa Rican Red Cross told Venezuelan journalist Joan Camargo .
“He has told us that he does not even have a crushed nail,” said Arias, per BBC. “He is fine.”
Marco Antonio Franco from the Mexican Red Cross told Mexican news site Milenio that Gil was “a cheerful man” and “even asked for hydration drinks of specific flavours he likes.”
“He himself drives us on, telling us to carry on,” said Franco. “He recognizes our team members, saying ‘how nice that you came back and that you’re with me again.'”
Gil was working in a small concrete booth in the basement of the parking lot adjacent to the Galerias Playa Grande mall when the twin quakes hit. It looked like the booth created a shell around the man, protecting him from the rubble that collapsed around and on top of him, BBC reported.