Son leads 20-hour rescue to free father and brothers from Venezuela earthquake rubble

Jesus Garcia did not think a rescue was achievable at the outset. His outlook shifted when he picked up his father's voice from beneath the wreckage, pleading: "Don't leave me here."

"I said, 'Trust me: Stay calm. Keep the kids calm over there. I'm not leaving here without you,'" Jesus said later.

Jose had by that stage already been stuck under the debris for longer than an hour, with no certainty about what would happen next. He and his two younger sons had made it through the building's collapse with only slight injuries, though the danger had not passed. The rubble could move again at any moment and crush those still inside.

"The first thing I thought of was my children. I had the little one right here," Jose said, placing his hands against his chest. "And I still had the other one. He was right next to me but buried. I couldn't see his face; I could only see one foot and one hand."

Even while frightened himself, Jose worked to reassure the boys. Then a voice they knew cut through the wreckage — a friend of Jesus's who serves as a firefighter, calling out for anyone alive. He had also taken Jesus's former firefighting equipment to the site.

Once Jesus confirmed his father and brothers had survived, he threw everything into getting them out. He soon saw he would need to hold on until daylight, when he could obtain a jackhammer strong enough to break through the stacked floors of debris blocking his path to them.

The following morning, a specialist police unit reached the scene with the tools the operation required. Working alongside Jesus's old firefighting colleagues from La Guaira, who came to stand with their former teammate, he freed his father and two younger brothers shortly after 3:30 pm on June 25 — more than 20 hours after the earthquakes.

Jesus pulled Diego and Santiago into a tight embrace. "When I saw them, I hugged them, gave them a kiss, and said, 'I love you, brother,'" he recalled. "Then I stepped away for a moment and started crying."

Jose said he remains unsettled by what happened and that the ordeal has permanently altered his outlook. "I am someone who will be grateful for the rest of my life that I was given this opportunity. Not just me, but my two young children."