The bodies of the wife and two children of Argentine soccer player Lucas Trejo were recovered from the rubble of their collapsed home in Venezuela, his team confirmed on Sunday. The family perished in twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 that struck the country on Wednesday, leaving nearly 1,500 dead and tens of thousands missing.
Trejo, 38, a center back for Club Sport Marítimo La Guaira, was at a training camp in Caracas when the quakes hit. He immediately rushed to his beachfront home in La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas, where he searched for his family for three days before rescue workers found their remains.
'Club Sport Marítimo La Guaira deeply mourns the irreparable loss of our player's wife and children,' the team said in a post on Instagram. Fellow Argentine footballer Edson Tortolero, a close friend of Trejo's, expressed grief over the tragedy, writing, 'Today my heart breaks into a thousand pieces.'
Rescue efforts in Venezuela have been hampered by limited state presence in affected areas, though U.S. search teams have pulled survivors from the rubble, including a mother and her 9-month-old baby over the weekend. The U.S. State Department shared footage of the baby being rescued, wrapped in blue fabric and crying.
The earthquakes, described as a rare 'doublet' by the U.S. Geological Survey, have left thousands unaccounted for, with survivors reporting slow government response in the worst-affected regions.