Carlos Miguel Colmenares, 12 years old, was rescued alive on the night of this Monday in the Macuto area, La Guaira state, after being trapped for five days under the rubble of a residential building destroyed by the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.
The operation was carried out by the USAR ECU-01 team of the Quito Fire Department, comprised of 47 specialized Ecuadorian firefighters, in coordination with rescuers from the Dominican Republic and personnel from Venezuela, after hours of intense work among the debris.
To locate the minor, the teams used specialized endoscopic cameras of the type “Leader Multi-Search”, devices that allow a lens to be inserted among the debris and display on-screen what is happening in inaccessible spaces.
It was that technology that revealed the image of Carlos alive and provided the definitive signal to begin the extraction.
Once freed, the child was placed on a rigid stretcher and transported by ambulance for specialized medical care.
"As long as there is a possibility, we will continue searching."
The Ecuadorian firefighters did not hide their excitement
"Five days after the earthquake, finding signs of life is the greatest motivation to keep moving forward. Each person rescued represents a family that regains hope and reminds us that it is worth continuing the search. As long as there is a possibility, we will keep looking," they posted on X.
The commander Esteban Cárdenas Varela was even more emotional in another message on X:
"We left our hearts in a new rescue! If there is anything left amidst the disaster, it is to cling to life with hope and faith, just as little Carlos and our team have done today, alongside Dominican and Venezuelan rescuers who did not give up, driven by their love for life."
“Here we are not seeing flags; what we are doing is trying to save lives, the lives of our brothers, of people like us,” he asserted.
Cárdenas Varela concluded his message with a phrase that became a symbol of international solidarity: “We know no flags, nor borders!”
A catastrophe of historic proportions
The rescue of Carlos takes place in the context of the worst seismic tragedy recorded in Venezuela since 1900.
The doublet -magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, separated by just 39 seconds- shook the north of the country on June 24 at 18:04 local time, with epicenters in the Yaracuy state.
Macuto was devastated: the eight-story Hotel Eduard's completely collapsed; and the Pontacoral building, which had between 10 and 12 floors, was entirely destroyed.
The earthquake struck during a holiday weekend, when thousands of families were vacationing in the area, which exacerbated the number of casualties.
The official balance as of June 29 was 1,719 deceased, 5,034 injured, and 15,866 affected, with 189 buildings in total collapse.
The UN estimates up to 50,000 missing persons.
Other miracles among the rubble
Carlos's discovery has not been the only hopeful finding.
Days earlier, a 10-month-old baby and an 11-year-old boy were rescued alive by international teams.
A baby of 18 days and his mother also survived after 32 hours under the rubble in Playa Grande, and a 15-year-old girl was rescued by Salvadoran teams from the Bahía Mar building.
More than 2,200 rescuers from 17 countries remain deployed in the affected areas.
Among those affected are at least 32 missing Cubans, with several families confirmed dead under the rubble in La Guaira.
NASA estimated that nearly 59,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed across the country, while the UNDP calculated the direct damages at 6.7 billion dollars, equivalent to 6% of Venezuela's GDP.
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