Argentinian footballer loses wife, two children in Venezuela earthquake

Argentine footballer Lucas Trejo has lost his wife and two children in last week’s devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, the strongest to hit the country in more than a century.

Trejo, 38, who plays for Club Sport Marítimo La Guaira, was at a team training camp in Caracas when the two earthquakes struck. He immediately rushed to his home in La Guaira, 18 miles north of the capital, one of the hardest-hit areas.

His brother-in-law Ricardo Ardiles told foreign media that Trejo was “emotionally overwhelmed” and that “absolutely nothing” was left of the family’s beachfront home.

“What he found was a horrific scene,” Ardiles recounted. “He found absolutely nothing of what the building itself had been. Our hope is that they weren’t in there.”

Trejo spent three days combing through rubble searching for his wife Yanina and their children Aarón and Ainhoa, appealing for heavy machinery to help with the search. Friends and teammates also made a video pleading for more equipment.

“Right now we only have one machine, but it’s not enough,” said Robert Garcés, who plays for Venezuela’s Metropolitanos F.C.

The search ended on Sunday when Club Sport Marítimo La Guaira confirmed the deaths of the mother and her two children on social media, saying it “deeply mourns the irreparable loss” of Trejo’s family. The club shared a photo of the four together and added: “Lucas, you are not alone. Your family at Maritime La Guaira is with you.”

The disaster, which the US Geological Survey described as a rare “doublet” with two major earthquakes striking just 39 seconds apart, has killed more than 1,400 people with thousands more missing, authorities said Sunday.

Several other footballers have also been affected. Yimvert Berroteran, an 18-year-old who played at the U-17 World Cup in Doha and recently featured for the U-20 national team, was among those killed, the Venezuelan national team and the Venezuelan Football Federation confirmed. Young players Víctor Palacios and Razan Sijaa also died, according to the FVF and their respective clubs.

Among the dead are eight Chinese nationals, Chinese state media reported, while Spain’s foreign ministry said that at least nine Spanish nationals have died and over 100 are missing.

Rescuers have now passed the critical 72-hour window, after which the chances of finding survivors without access to water diminish rapidly.