Security guard pulled alive 8 days after Venezuela quakes

Rescue teams pulled 43-year-old security guard Hernán Alberto Gil Flores alive from the collapsed basement of a shopping center in La Guaira, Venezuela, early Thursday, eight days after twin earthquakes buried him under layers of concrete and steel. The extraction, which capped a grueling multi-day operation, drew cheers from hundreds of rescuers carrying flags from across the world.abc7ny+2

A Pocket of Air

Gil Flores had been working a night shift at his small security cabin inside the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center when the first of two earthquakes struck on the evening of June 24. While the surrounding concrete structure collapsed, his workstation held, shielding him from the worst of the debris and creating a pocket of air that kept him alive.abc7ny

A specialized team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and made contact with Gil on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. The operation was coordinated by a Chilean urban search-and-rescue team, with crews from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, and other countries working around the clock. Rescuers navigated unstable structural conditions, torrential rain, and persistent aftershocks to tunnel down to the survivor, using a telescopic camera to maintain contact and passing water and liquid nutrients through a narrow shaft.bbc+1

"When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn't make it," Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado told the AP.abc7ny

Against the Odds

Gil's survival well past the so-called golden window of roughly 72 hours — the typical limit for finding survivors without water — drew widespread attention. His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP that she had endured days of despair before learning he was alive. "When I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness," she said. The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.abc7ny

Chilean firefighter María Paz Campos talked Gil through the final hours of the operation, at one point instructing him on video to put on protective goggles against falling particles.abc7ny

A Country Still Reeling

The back-to-back earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 and striking 39 seconds apart, have killed more than 2,200 people, injured over 11,000, and displaced tens of thousands across northern Venezuela. As of earlier this week, some 50,000 people remained unaccounted for, according to United Nations estimates. La Guaira, the coastal state where Gil was trapped, has been the hardest-hit region.cbsnews+2