Argentine Footballer Lucas Trejo Loses Wife and Two Children in Venezuela Earthquakes

Venezuela: An Argentine Footballer Lucas Trejo lost his wife and both children in the twin earthquakes that occurred in Venezuela on June 24. Trejo plays for Venezuela and was away in Caracas with his club, Marítimo de La Guaira, preparing for an upcoming match when the disaster occurred.

His wife, Yanina Maranella, and their two young children, Aarón and Ainhoa, were confirmed dead on Sunday, June 28, 2026, due to the ruinous effects of the earthquakes. The family was at their apartment building in Playa Grande, La Guaira, when the structure completely collapsed during the seismic activity.

Upon hearing the news, he immediately returned and launched a desperate public appeal and rescue effort on social media, writing: "Our building in Playa Grande collapsed. I don't know anything about my family. Please pray for them and share this message in case someone sees them. I want to believe they weren't there."

The search came to a tragic end late on Saturday night (June 27) after an exhaustive 74-hour continuous rescue operation through the rubble of their collapsed apartment complex. The public statements confirming that the bodies of his family had been recovered were released by Trejo’s club (Club Sport Marítimo de La Guaira) as well as by his close friend and former Venezuela international player Edson Tortolero on the next morning, of June 28.

As per reports, Trejo manually dug through the concrete rubble alongside volunteers and professional responders as the grueling 74-hour rescue operation was on. "I've been lifting debris with my hand for days," he said. Hours before the tragic recovery of his family was confirmed, he uploaded a previously shared family photograph of himself, his wife Yanina, and their two children gathered together, on his Instagram Story as a hope to find them when the search neared its end but all in vain.

This proved to be a rare, catastrophic doublet earthquake sequence when two massive tremors occurred back-to-back under a minute causing widespread structural collapse of multi-story apartment complexes, hospitals, and coastal infrastructure resulting in a massive loss of life and property. This led the Venezuelan Government to activate the State of Emergency in the country.

The epicenter of the earthquake was reported to be Veroes municipality, Yaracuy state in north-central Venezuela with its worst effects noted in La Guaira where Trejo’s family was living. It affected the population of over 7 million people who were exposed to shaking in Venezuela. Reported casualties crossed over 1,700 count with 5,000+ injured, and ~51,000 still missing.