Security guard recalls surviving darkness and aftershocks before his miraculous rescue from a collapsed building
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 12:59pm, 6 Jul 2026Updated: 1:03pm, 6 Jul 2026Hernan Gil was working his shift as a security guard in the basement of a building in Venezuela on the afternoon of June 24 when he felt the earth shake.
The first tremor was short, Gil recounted in an interview from the hospital room where he was recovering after being rescued from the depths of a collapsed building.
“The second one was incredibly strong,” said the 43-year-old, who remembers freezing inside his guard booth, overcome with nerves.
He heard a neighbour in the car park say it was an earthquake, and then “everything collapsed”.
Gil felt everything crumble and stones hit the back of his head and eye.
