56 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleVanessa BuschschlüterLatin America online editor
Rescue teams from seven countries are inching towards a man who survived the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela eight days ago.
Emergency workers located security guard Hernán Gil on Saturday beneath the ruins of a multi-storey car park in Catia La Mar, but have only been able to make visual contact with him in the last hours.
Despite being buried under nine-metre-deep, highly unstable rubble, rescuers say that Gil, who is in his 40s, is “in good spirits” and cheering them on.
His wife has described his survival as “a miracle”. Almost 2,300 people are confirmed to have died in the quakes which hit Venezuela on 24 June, and tens of thousands are still missing.
Around 350 rescuers have been working against the clock to free Gil since he was located more than 100 hours ago.
Teams from Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal and the United States are on the ground trying to free him.
Parts of the access ducts they built to reach him have collapsed several times, highlighting the dangers the work poses to the rescuers as well as Gil.
Overnight, the search teams were finally able to establish visual contact with Gil.
In footage recorded by a small camera inserted into the rubble where Gil is trapped, a Chilean firefighter can be heard asking Gil to turn his head towards the camera.
One of his eyes is bloodshot and he is wearing a face mask, which rescuers had earlier passed to him through a small hole to protect him from the dust and debris created by their efforts to free him.
The firefighter also asks him to don goggles to protect his eyes as rescuers continue to carefully dig away at the rubble surrounding him.
MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/EPA/ShutterstockRicardo Arias from the Costa Rican Red Cross told local journalist Joan Camargo that Gil was in a stable condition.
He added that they had been able to give him water and attach him to an intravenous drip.
Arias said that Gil appeared to have miraculously escaped being crushed when the shopping centre collapsed.
“He has told us that he does not even have a crushed nail,” he said. “He is fine.”
Marco Antonio Franco from the Mexican Red Cross described Gil as “a cheerful man”.
He told Mexican news site Milenio that the survivor “even asked for hydration drinks of specific flavours he likes”, adding that “of course we indulged him”.
“He himself drives us on, telling us to carry on. He recognises our team members, saying ‘how nice that you came back and that you’re with me again’.”
According to Franco, the rescuers and Gil kept up a steady chatter about his family and about the challenging rescue.
MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/EPA/ShutterstockGil was first located on Saturday.
Head of Emergency Response for the Costa Rican Red Cross Wagner Leiva recalled the moment: “We were removing and cutting some slabs when we were told that it seemed there was someone alive (…). We went down to the basement, and one of our colleagues, after calling out and listening, detected that someone was indeed answering.”
The security guard had been on duty in a small concrete booth in the basement of the parking lot adjacent to the Galerias Playa Grande mall in Catia La Mar when the twin quakes struck.
It appears that the booth created a shell around him, protecting him from the 140 tonnes of rubble which collapsed around and on top of him.
Leiva told Reuters that given the precarious nature of rescue efforts, they had to proceed very slowly.
“As the days passed, we gained access to him and gave him water. This task lasted nearly three days to give him the first sip of water. Last night, at approximately 22:00 (local time), we had physical contact with Hernán.”
The rescuers hope to free Gil within the next 24 hours.
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