CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela (AP) — Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early Thursday, ending a grueling days-long operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela eight days earlier.

En el último avance que publiqué sobre el rescate de Hernán, llevábamos 28 horas de trabajo. Ahora ya son 58 horas y aún no hemos logrado sacarlo.

La dificultad es que Hernán se encuentra atrapado dentro de una estructura de nueve pisos sumamente inestable, y el túnel que… https://t.co/d1rx30dtxZ pic.twitter.com/0SgodFZp7L

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) July 1, 2026

Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was extracted safely after being trapped since June 24 under the rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal town in La Guaira. Rescuers initially made contact with him over the weekend.

Gil Flores, who worked as a night-shift security guard at the complex, was inside his small security cabin when the first violent tremor struck. While the surrounding concrete structure collapsed around him, his workstation cabin held ground, shielding him from crushing debris and creating a vital pocket of air.

“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 Associated Press.

#2Jul La Cruz Roja de México, la de Chile y otros equipos de emergencia captaron imágenes de Hernán Gil, uno de los afectados que se mantenía con vida bajo los escombros en La Guaira tras los terremotos del 24 de junio.

📹 Cortesía. pic.twitter.com/wL3YMrn8dI

— Diario La Mañana🗞 (@LaMananaDigital) July 2, 2026

A specialized team from the Costa Rican Red Cross first detected signs of life and established contact with him on Sunday.

His wife, Gusbimar González, told the AP, that she had days of despair before rescuers made contact, but that then “ when I learned he was alive, I saw a ray of light in the darkness.” The couple has two children, ages 8 and 10.

The operation was coordinated by an urban search and rescue team of Chilean firefighters, who worked around the clock with specialized teams from the United States, Portugal and Mexico, among others.