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Héctor Bello was miles away when the earth split open. While the defender for Venezuelan second-division football club Marítimo de La Guaira was away from home, two massive earthquakes struck the Venezuelan coast just 39 seconds apart. The twin shocks, registering magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, brought down residential towers, tore up roads, and trapped hundreds of families under concrete blocks.
Amid the structural ruins in La Guaira, rescuers searching the debris uncovered Bello’s wife, Andrea. She had used her own body to shield their one-year-old daughter, Alana, from a collapsing roof.
The child survived. Andrea did not.
In a series of raw statements shared on social media, Bello detailed how his wife protected their toddler inside their home during the seismic doublet.
“I’ll tell her the story of how you saved her, my love – how you gave your own life for our daughter, how you were a brave woman who never abandoned her, even as you took your last breaths,” Bello wrote.
Bello travelled to the capital city of Caracas, where his daughter was hospitalised alongside her aunt following her rescue. He expressed the profound weight of his absence during the crisis, stating: “How do I explain to your daughter that you lost your life to save hers, and that I wasn’t there to do anything? How do I explain it? Give me strength now.”
Later, Bello updated those tracking the family’s condition: “My daughter and her aunt are doing well, they won’t be discharged today – they’re staying at the hospital. Thank you so much for supporting me through this immense pain,”
The regional football community and press organizations, including Cumaná de Campeones and international broadcaster Univision, verified that Andrea’s body was recovered after intense excavation efforts.
The total death toll across Venezuela has climbed to at least 589 individuals, with nearly 3,000 others sustaining injuries. Emergency crews expect casualties to mount significantly as heavy machinery slowly accesses collapsed zones near Caracas and La Guaira.
The sports community suffered multiple losses during the tremor. The Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF) reported that Razan Sijaa, an under-18 player for Caracas Fútbol Club, died alongside his family members when their residence collapsed in La Guaira. Another academy player associated with Marítimo de La Guaira and Club Sport San Agustín, Víctor Palacios, was also identified among the dead.
Prominent cultural figures have also been impacted. Former Miss Venezuela runway coach Giselle Reyes confirmed that her mother died in La Guaira. While her mother’s residential building suffered a total collapse, a surviving nurse reported that she had suffered a fatal heart attack induced by the severe tremors and panic before the structure came down.
Diplomatic networks are monitoring foreign casualties within the quake zone. The Spanish Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of four Spanish nationals, with 106 individuals remaining completely unaccounted for. Diplomatic channels from Portugal and Brazil also confirmed the deaths of one Portuguese and two Brazilian citizens. Portuguese President António José Seguro issued an official message of solidarity to the Venezuelan public and the expatriate community.
