Rescuers save trapped man from Venezuela mall rubble nearly eight days after quakes

CATIA LA MAR/LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Rescuers dug out a 44-year-old survivor trapped in the ruins of the mall where he worked in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira, more than a week after two strong earthquakes devastated the country's northern coast.

Work to save security guard Hernan Alberto Gil from the rubble of the nine-story Galerias Playa Grande shopping center began on Monday, according to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has been posting updates on X about the operation that also involved teams from Chile, the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica and Venezuela.

Rescuers provided him with hydration via tubing, according to Bukele, but needed to dig two separate tunnels to reach him, because of the instability of the ruins.

Gil was carried out of the rubble on a stretcher on Thursday morning and loaded into an ambulance as cheering rescuers and reporters looked on. "I'm grateful to God for keeping him alive for so many days," said Gusbimar Gonzalez, Gil's wife. "He endured it all like a warrior." The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes struck less than a minute apart almost