The teams from the Humanitarian Rescue Unit (UHR) of El Salvador located alive this Friday Camila Sofía Medina Rivas, a 15-year-old girl who had been trapped on the ninth floor of the Bahía Mar building in the Caribe urbanization of La Guaira state, Venezuela, since the devastating double earthquake that struck the country on June 24.
The Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele confirmed the finding on his X account at 7:27 PM this Friday: "We have found 15-year-old Camila Sofía Medina Rivas alive, trapped with her pet on the ninth floor of a collapsed building. Her mother is waiting for her below with part of our team."
At the time of the announcement, rescuers still had to break through several walls to reach her.
Bukele specified that the teams brought additional tools and machinery to clear the way, and he concluded his message with a phrase of hope: "God willing, we will rescue her soon."
Hours later, the president released a video of the direct contact between a rescuer and the young woman, accompanied by the message "You're almost there, Cami!".
In the recording, the rescuer speaks to her calmly: "Hello Cami, good afternoon, we are the UHR El Salvador, we are here to help you, to get you out as soon as possible, and we want you to stay strong always."
Then she asks what she can do in the space where she is trapped, and Camila replies, "I can only move my legs, stretch them."
The rescuer asks him to hit the surfaces around him to guide the team and concludes, "It’s a pleasure to greet you on behalf of us, the Salvadorans, and we are here to do everything possible and necessary that is within our reach."
The rescue takes place amidst a catastrophe of historic proportions. The double earthquake with magnitudes of 7.1 and 7.2, followed by a aftershock of 7.5, struck northern Venezuela on June 24 at 6:04 p.m. local time, with the epicenter located in Yaracuy state.
The official toll has risen to 920 dead and more than 3,360 injured, according to the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, although the United States Geological Survey estimated a 42% probability that the total number of fatalities could be between 10,000 and 100,000.
The UN estimated that up to 6.76 million people were exposed to the impact of the earthquake.
In light of the magnitude of the disaster, El Salvador launched one of the largest humanitarian missions in its history: 300 rescuers and paramedics, six planes with 150 tons of equipment and supplies, of which 188 personnel were already operating on the ground this Friday.
At least 17 countries deployed nearly 1,000 personnel in total to Venezuela, including Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
The case of Camila, broadcasted live by Bukele with nearly a million views, became the most powerful human symbol of the international response to the worst seismic tragedy Venezuela has experienced in decades.
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