Five days after the powerful earthquake that devastated Venezuela and neighboring areas, 21-year-old Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas was rescued alive from the ruins of a residential building and transported to a hospital.
News of the rescue was announced by El Salvador's President, Nayib Bukele, on his account on the social media platform X. According to the president, the young man's rescue was the result of an intensive, coordinated operation lasting several hours, carried out by emergency crews from Venezuela, Mexico, and El Salvador.
"Thank God for this miracle. We continue working to save more lives," the president wrote.
Rescuing Levi required a major effort that began in the early morning hours, when rescue teams succeeded in pinpointing his exact location. During the lengthy operation, a physician from the Salvadoran rescue forces was able to gain sufficient access to provide him with fluids and help keep him alive.
The rescue operation presented significant technical and logistical challenges. The body of one of the earthquake victims blocked rescuers' path to the trapped survivor. Experts were forced to prioritize recovering the victim's body "with the utmost dignity and care" before continuing their efforts to reach and extract Levi.