Families of Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States are desperately seeking information about their loved ones after a hotel housing more than 100 returnees collapsed during the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday night.
The deportees had been accommodated at Hotel Santuario in La Guaira, a coastal city north of Caracas, after arriving from the US earlier that day.
Hours later, two powerful earthquakes hit within seconds of each other, triggering widespread destruction across the region.
Authorities say at least 1,943 people have died, while many others remain missing beneath the rubble.
Among the survivors is 45-year-old Ninoska Gutierrez, who was staying at the hotel when the building gave way.
“We were all alarmed; in fact, I ran out barefoot in just my top — I mean, there was no time for anything else,” she recounted to CNN.
“When I open the door of the room, I see a huge number of people running … I was running — sort of stepping aside to let them pass so I wouldn’t get run over — when the wall right next to me suddenly split apart; as it broke, I felt like I was floating in mid-air.”
Gutierrez said debris trapped her legs after the collapse, but she managed to free herself and crawl through an opening in the ceiling to safety.
While she escaped, scores of other deportees are still feared trapped beneath the wreckage as rescue teams continue search operations.
For many relatives, the agonising wait for answers continues.
Luis Armando Dasilva said his family has received no information about the whereabouts of his sister, Amanda Donizete, who was deported on Wednesday and has not been seen since.
“They are not giving us answers about where she is. If she is there at a hospital or at the morgue. We have already checked all of that and we haven’t found her,” he told CNN.
According to Dasilva, his sister had been living and working in the US state of Georgia after leaving Venezuela amid the country’s prolonged humanitarian crisis.
He said she was excited about returning home and reuniting with her family after learning she would be deported.
Emergency crews have spent days combing through the debris of the collapsed hotel, but hopes of finding more survivors are fading.
Some families say they simply want the opportunity to recover and bury their loved ones.
“Please, those of you who are here, help us, help us,” pleaded José Gregorio Rincón Ávila, grandfather of a deportee.
“We have been waiting many days. We already know those bodies have been there for several days since Wednesday, but at least let us take our loved ones home,” he told CNN.
“We want our family members, whatever condition they are in — we just want to be able to bury them,” Dasilva pleaded.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said responsibility for the deportees ended once they arrived in Venezuela.
“This flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home. When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them,” the spokesperson said.
The US State Department declined to comment on the situation.
Records from Venezuelan authorities and ICE Flight Monitor, a project run by Human Rights First, show that the deportation flight from Miami landed at Simón Bolívar International Airport at 10:22 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
The aircraft carried 146 people, including 19 women and seven children.
In response to the disaster, the United States has dispatched search-and-rescue personnel to Venezuela and pledged more than $300 million in humanitarian assistance.
The tragedy comes amid increased deportations of Venezuelans from the US. In October, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for about 300,000 Venezuelans who had been allowed to remain in the country under humanitarian protections.
Since then, deportation flights to Venezuela have increased. ICE Flight Monitor reported that 1,746 Venezuelans were deported in May alone.
Footage shared by Venezuelan officials showed deportees arriving at Simón Bolívar International Airport earlier on Wednesday, hours before the earthquake disaster unfolded.
One woman, whose husband was among those deported, told CNN he had spent three years in the United States trying to create a better future for their family.
She said he was held by ICE for 15 days before being returned to Venezuela.
“That’s when the tragedy happened,” said the woman, who did not give her name. She said she’s lost hope of ever seeing her husband alive again.
“Since Friday we have been waiting for an answer to see if (the local authorities) will hand over the bodies to us. Because they say there is no life,” she told CNN.
For Yulis Salcedo, the day was meant to be a joyful reunion. She decorated her home with blue, yellow and red balloons in the colours of Venezuela’s national flag to welcome her 21-year-old son, Anderson, home after his deportation.
According to Reuters, Anderson arrived safely and spent the night at the La Guaira hotel before planning to return home the next day.
“He called me at 5pm and told me ‘I love you so much, Mom. See you tomorrow at home,’” Salcedo said in an interview with Reuters.
Instead, her son is now battling for survival in hospital after suffering severe injuries.
“I want justice because it’s not fair that my son is lying in that bed, with respiratory support, with his legs amputated at the age of 21,” Salcedo said.
