An Argentine soccer player on the Venezuelan team lost his wife and two young children in the powerful twin earthquakes that hit the country last week.
For a limited time: 25% off your NBC News subscription.
Get exclusive reporting, live Q&A, and ad-free reading.
Before he was pronounced dead, Lucas Trejo told Noticias Telemundo how he was “searching through the rubble with his hands” for his wife Yanina and their young son and daughter.
Noticias Telemundo confirmed the death to Trejo’s football club, Club Sport Marítimo de la Guaira, and condoled the player’s family on the tragic death.
“Rest in peace to Yanina de Trejo (wife), Aaron Trejo (son) and Ainhoa Trejo (daughter) of our player Lucas Trejo. The great family of Club Sport Marítimo de la Guaira sends our condolences on the death of his family,” the team wrote on Instagram.
Trejo had been searching for his family since Wednesday when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck near the town of San Felipe just after 6 p.m., followed 39 seconds later by an even stronger magnitude 7.5 quake near Umalé.
The earthquake killed more than 1,400 people and injured about 3,150.
Trejo told Noticias Telemundo Ahora that his family’s home in La Guaira, the worst-hit area, was destroyed by the earthquake.
“I was playing in a game far from home and I ran back to see if my family was okay,” he said, getting emotional. “The building has been destroyed.”
He told Noticias Telemundo that he was digging through the rubble by hand because there was no excavation equipment and even if one machine arrived, it was too small to lift large pieces of debris.
Trejo also spoke about how he desperately tried to find his young son, Aaron, at the hospital after rumors spread that the toddler had come out of the building alive. “I don’t know where my family is. I’m looking for them, but I don’t know,” he said, before parting ways.
Tens of thousands of people remain missing as the desperate search for survivors continues.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said on Sunday that time was running out to rescue people still trapped under the rubble.
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said in a televised address Sunday that search and rescue operations would continue after 33 people were found over the weekend.
“Today we rescued people alive,” she said. “Therefore, rescue operations will not be suspended.”
