Man Rescued Alive from Earthquake Rubble After Eight Days in Venezuela

Rescue teams in Venezuela have pulled a man alive from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building, eight days after two powerful earthquakes devastated the country.

Forty-three-year-old Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a security guard, was rescued on Thursday after spending more than a week trapped beneath nearly thirty feet of debris from the collapsed parking structure of a shopping mall in the coastal state of La Guaira.

The rescue followed a painstaking seventy-hour operation involving emergency crews from Venezuela and several other countries. Rescuers used specialised equipment to locate Gil before carefully tunnelling through the unstable debris to reach him.

Emergency responders kept him alive by supplying water, food and medication through a hose while maintaining communication with him throughout the operation.

Officials say Gil was conscious and in stable condition when he was pulled from the rubble and transported to a medical facility. His wife described the rescue as a miracle after fearing for days that he had died.

Disaster experts say survival after more than a week trapped beneath earthquake debris is extremely rare. The chances of finding survivors typically decline sharply after the first seventy-two hours.

The rescue comes as Venezuela continues to recover from the twin earthquakes that struck last week. Authorities say at least two thousand, two hundred and ninety-five people have died, although officials believe the final death toll could be significantly higher as search and recovery efforts continue.