Hours after US deportation, over 100 Venezuelans go missing in deadly earthquake disaster | World

What was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter after deportation from the United States turned into a nightmare for more than 100 Venezuelans. Within hours of landing in Caracas, the deportees found themselves trapped under the rubble of a hotel after two powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela. While many managed to escape with their lives, the country is mourning a massive tragedy, with the official death toll crossing 1,700.

According to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First that tracks deportation flights, a flight from Miami landed in Caracas on Wednesday carrying 146 Venezuelans. The passengers included 19 women and seven children. After arrival, the group was taken to a government-arranged hotel, where they were expected to spend the night before returning to their hometowns.

Twin earthquakes turn hotel into death trap

The deportees were accommodated at Hotel Santuario La Llanada when two devastating earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela. The powerful tremors caused extensive destruction across several regions, with La Guaira among the worst-affected areas.

One of the survivors, 58-year-old Lisbeth Portillo, said she managed to crawl out from beneath the debris before joining around 20 other deportees as they desperately searched for help. “We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication,” Portillo said during a telephonic interview to The Associated Press (AP) from her home in Maracaibo. She recalled horrifying scenes outside the collapsed hotel, where frightened people ran through the streets, some barefoot and others without clothes, after escaping the rubble.

The survivors eventually reached a National Guard building, where they were finally able to contact their families. “I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” said Portillo. “I am traumatised,” she said after a pause, weeping, The AP reported. The Venezuelan government has said that more than 1,700 people were killed in the earthquakes.

Hours earlier, they had landed after deportation from the US

Portillo was among those deported under the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown. Data from ICE Flight Monitor shows that the United States carried out 288 deportation flights to 38 countries during May, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile and Ivory Coast. Venezuela alone received 12 deportation flights during the month, with operations conducted three days every week. Deportation flights to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after remaining suspended for 13 months.

‘The whole room started collapsing’

Recalling the terrifying moments before the collapse, Portillo said the deportees first underwent medical examinations and received identification documents after arriving in Venezuela. They were then shifted to the hotel and informed they would travel home the next day.

She was staying in a second-floor room with 16 other women. Shortly before the earthquake, she had stepped onto the balcony overlooking the sea. She noticed the unusually dark sky and intense heat before returning inside. Moments later, she felt the building begin to shake violently. “I started hearing papa, papa papapa,’, and I saw the women next to me start to fall. They were all screaming for help,” she said.

Before anyone could react, a second and even stronger earthquake struck. I fell and ended up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried and I was able to get out,” said Portillo, who suffered bruises across her body. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request seeking details about the incident.

Another survivor: ‘I begged for help’

The Venezuelan government shared a video on social media showing the deportees being received by officials at Caracas airport shortly before they were moved to the hotel. Twenty-four-year-old Jenny Rodriguez, another passenger on the same deportation flight, told Telemundo that she survived after another deportee spotted her trapped beneath the rubble.

“I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help. Thanks to God – and to him – I was able to get out of there,” she said. Families still searching for missing deportees

For several families, the nightmare is far from over. Liliana Rojas told Telemundo that she is still searching for her 33-year-old partner, who was deported from the United States on the same day. According to Rojas, officials at the detention centre in El Paso, Texas, informed her only that he had been deported. Since then, she has received no information about whether he survived the earthquake. “No one is giving an answer about anything,” Rojas said.

Emotional call from beneath the rubble

Portillo had crossed the US-Mexico border in November 2021 and said she had a pending asylum claim before being deported. After surviving the earthquake, she could not remember her children’s phone numbers, but managed to contact her husband, who remains in the United States.

“I said to him, Cesar, I’m alive. Help me. ‘ And my husband kept saying, It can’t be,'” she recalled. “I’m alive, I made it out of the rubble, I’m alive,’ I told him.” Her husband immediately contacted their children, who travelled to reunite with her the following night. Looking back at the ordeal, Portillo, who had lived in South Florida for more than four years, summed up her survival in one emotional sentence. “I was born that day; on the 24th, I was born again.”

What we know so far

The Venezuelan government has confirmed that the earthquakes have claimed more than 1,700 lives, while rescue teams continue to search for survivors across the affected regions. The fate of several deportees who arrived on the same flight remains uncertain, with anxious families continuing to seek answers as emergency operations continue.

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