Star Athlete’s Wife and Two Children Found Dead

Argentine soccer player Lucas Trejo is facing an unimaginable tragedy after his wife and two young children were killed in the devastating earthquakes that rocked Venezuela.

Trejo’s team, Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira, confirmed Sunday that his wife, Yanina, and their children, Aaron and Ainhoa, died after powerful back-to-back earthquakes tore through the country and reduced buildings to piles of rubble.

The 38-year-old soccer star was reportedly away at a team training camp in Caracas when the massive 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck Wednesday evening. As soon as he heard what happened, Trejo rushed back to La Guaira, the area hit hardest by the disaster.

What he found was horrifying.

According to Trejo’s brother-in-law Ricardo Ardiles, the soccer player arrived at the site of his home only to discover the building had been completely destroyed.

“He found absolutely nothing of what the building itself had been,” Ardiles told CNN Espanol.

For three agonizing days, Trejo searched through the ruins for his wife and children, hoping against hope that they might still be alive beneath the debris. But rescue crews eventually recovered their bodies, bringing a heartbreaking end to the desperate search.

“Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira deeply mourns the irreparable loss of our player’s wife and children,” the team wrote in an emotional Instagram post, which included a family photo.

In a separate message on X, the club added, “Peace to their souls and comfort for Lucas and all his loved ones.”

The family’s deaths come as Venezuela continues to reel from one of the deadliest disasters in its recent history. Authorities said Sunday that nearly 1,500 people have been killed, while tens of thousands remain missing.

In the hardest-hit areas, families are still digging through crushed buildings, calling out the names of missing loved ones and clinging to any sign of life.

Over the weekend, a U.S. search and rescue team helped pull a mother and her 9-month-old baby from the rubble of a collapsed building. Video shared by Virginia Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 showed rescuers carefully lifting the woman out as neighbors cheered nearby.

Another video shared by the U.S. State Department showed the baby being carried out wrapped in blue fabric. The infant’s face was blurred, but the baby could be heard crying after being pulled from the wreckage.

Still, for many families, the search has brought only heartbreak.

Some Venezuelans have said they have seen few state rescue teams in the areas that need help the most, though acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the government is carrying out a full-scale emergency response. Officials in Caracas said Saturday that about 200 people had been rescued.

Online databases, however, suggest around 51,000 people remain missing.

In La Guaira, a woman named Diana Sandrano told CBS News she would not stop searching for her missing brother.

“He deserves to live and have a future,” Sandrano said after spending the day combing through the devastation.

For Trejo, the disaster has already delivered the worst possible news. What began as a frantic race to save his family ended in a crushing loss now being mourned by teammates, fans and a shaken soccer community.