After eight days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed shopping center in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was pulled out alive by an international rescue team that included Miami Fire Rescue personnel. The round-the-clock digging ended in cheers from rescuers and relatives, offering a rare flicker of hope amid a widening humanitarian crisis across northern Venezuela.
Miami's USAR Unit Joins The Long Shot Rescue
According to CBS Miami, the U.S. Urban Search and Rescue contingent from South Florida, known as Florida Task Force 2 and led by the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue, worked for roughly 53 straight hours to help free Flores Gil. City officials said FL‑TF2 sent about 80 highly trained personnel from South Florida municipalities and supported the mission with specialized equipment and medical care on site.
Eight Days Underground In A Collapsed Mall
Rescuers pulled Flores Gil from the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center, where he had been trapped since June 24 following twin earthquakes that registered roughly 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, the AP reported. Photos and video from the scene show Chilean and other international crews carrying his stretcher to a waiting Red Cross ambulance as bystanders and fellow rescuers erupted in applause, according to AP News.
Miami Steps In As A Regional Lifeline
South Florida has been a logistics and coordination hub for the U.S. response to the disaster, with local agencies and the federal government moving teams and supplies through Miami, the Miami Herald reported. The Herald noted that city and county search-and-rescue units were federalized for the deployment, adding to a growing international presence on the ground in La Guaira and Caracas.
The State Department activated Florida Task Force 2 for overseas assistance, and city officials told Local 10 that Miami planned to send roughly 80 members as part of a larger FL‑TF2 contingent, which the outlet described as a multi-disciplinary force that includes physicians, structural engineers and K‑9 teams. Local 10 reported that the city shared video and updates on social platforms as crews geared up to depart.
"Today, all of Miami has a reason to be proud," Mayor Eileen Higgins said in a news release, praising the Miami crews and the broader South Florida response, according to CBS Miami. Flores Gil was reported conscious and wearing an oxygen mask when he was carried out, images shared by news agencies showed, and medics rushed him to receive further care as international teams kept searching other collapse sites, per AP News.
