Hotel with over 100 Venezuelans recently deported from the US collapsed in deadly earthquakes, families say
A hotel with more than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the United States collapsed during the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela last week, families of several of those impacted told ABC News.
A repatriation flight from the U.S. arrived in Venezuela around 10 a.m. on June 24, according to a group that tracks deportation flights.
Many of those on the flight were seen after arriving in Venezuela in a video posted on X by a Venezuelan government official, who said there were 146 people aboard the flight.
The group of Venezuelans, which included several families, was sent to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, family members of those impacted said.
The daughter of 47-year-old Rosvelis Boscan Chacin told ABC News she spoke with her father after he landed in Venezuela.
“He called me at 3 p.m. asking for my address, but he said [the government] wouldn’t be taking him to my home that same day,” she said.
“He was the pillar of our family, a father to seven kids,” she added.
Luisa Quintero told ABC News that her aunt, Johana Pineda, her husband, Richard Pereira, and their son, Richi, were on the flight from the U.S.
Quintero told ABC News that her aunt and 7-year-old cousin survived the collapse, but Pereira died.
She said her family members, who had been living in Tennessee since 2023 and were seeking asylum, were detained last Monday at a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Quintero told ABC News the family was placed on a repatriation flight two days later.
“I found out they were in Venezuela because I saw my little cousin in a video the government posted,” she said in Spanish.
Quintero told ABC News that her aunt, Pineda, and her younger cousin have minor injuries from the collapse.
“My aunt is devastated and my little cousin is traumatized,” she said.
At least 1,719 people have died and another 5,034 people were injured from a pair of powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela on June 24, officials said.
The two quakes -- a 7.2 magnitude one followed just seconds later by a 7.5 -- struck the coast of Venezuela, knocking down buildings in Caracas, the capital, and sending residents racing into the street.
Responders are still undertaking rescue operations, searching for people thought to be under the rubble.
