Argentine footballer Lucas Trejo's wife and 2 children found dead after double earthquake in Venezuela
The wife and children of footballer Lucas Trejo were killed in the catastrophic earthquakes that rocked Venezuela last week.
According to his club, the Argentine sportsman's partner, Yanina Maranella, his son, Aarón, and his daughter, Ainhoa, had been staying at their apartment in Playa Grande when two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck the area on Wednesday (24 Jun).
Trejo had been in the capital, Caracas, with his Deportivo La Guaira teammates for a league match when disaster struck.
His brother and father subsequently flew to the region to help locate his wife and their children.
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"Our building in Playa Grande collapsed," Trejo wrote online. "I don't know anything about my family.
"Please pray for them and share this message in case someone saw them. I want to believe they weren't there."
Trejo, 38, also flew down to their home in La Guaira, where his brother-in-law Ricardo Ardiles claims he discovered 'a horrific scene'.
"He found absolutely nothing of what the building itself had been," Ardiles told CNN. "Our hope is that they weren’t in there."
The bodies of the trio were sadly discovered three days later following a desperate 72-hour search, fellow footballer Edson Tortolero confirmed on social media over the weekend.
"We inform all the people of Venezuela and Argentina that the bodies of Lucas Trejo's family members have been found," Tortolero wrote after joining in the rescue mission. "We thank everyone for their support and ask for the utmost respect for his family during this time.
"We pray for eternal life for them, and we also thank the family members, pastors, players and fellow fans who came to offer support.
Argentina's soccer team also wrote a tribute to the lost family of one of their star players on their official Instagram page.
"From the #DLG we join the grief that overwhelms player Lucas Trejo, for the sensitive passing of his wife, Yanina Maranella, and of his children, Aarón and Ainhoa Trejo," a media representative penned.
"Peace to their souls and comfort for Lucas and all his loved ones."
Over 1,430 residents tragically died alongside Trejos' family in what the US Geological Survey has described as a 'severe seismic doublet sequence'.
A further 2,300 citizens sustained serious injuries as a result of the disaster, and 3,000 have been left homeless.
Topics: Football, Sport, World News, News, Real Life
Rhianna Benson