From US custody to earthquake rubble in Venezuela: The fate of Flight 164 passengers

A few of them, still in custody, called their homes, informing their dear ones about their arrival in the country. As the families started counting down to meet them, the quakes struck, killing more than 2,000 and injuring at least 10,000.

As the rescue operations continue even after a week from the disaster, the desperate search of many such families has not found an answer.

“If we could just see what we need to see – if I could see the rubble, I’d be satisfied – but days have gone by, and I still haven’t found him, alive or dead… So what am I supposed to do?” Jose Rincón, grandfather of Abelardo Rincón, asked the BBC.

Flyers seeking information about missing people, posted by relatives, are displayed at Francisco de Miranda Park in Caracas, Venezuela, where people whose homes were damaged in the earthquakes are camping, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo)

Abelardo, a Venezuelan native, was on Flight 164 that flew in from the US on June 24.

For the past 6 years, Abelardo had built his life in Georgia in the US, working in a car dealership. He got married and was looking forward to the birth of his daughter before the US authorities detained.

As the 23-year-old’s ageing parents and pregnant wife waited for news of him after his detention, he was put on the flight back home.

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On landing in Venezuela, he, along with other deportees, was housed in a hotel near the coast.

Hours later, the hotel was crushed to rubble by the fatal quakes.

When enquired by the BBC, the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement, said: “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.”

Rincón’s grandfather, Jose checked at least 200 bodies, including those at a morgue in Caracas, for his grandson, but in vain. He even tried to visit the location of the destroyed hotel, where the deportees were staying, but only to find it blocked.

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Another deportee, Darwin Eliecer Serrano Lopez, 35, had called one of his cousins, less than half an hour before the earthquakes struck, to say that he had returned home after four years of staying in the US.

“We drove all night,” said Paola Chacón, whose brother had received the first phone call that alerted the family about Lopez’s return.

Originally detained in Chicago, Lopez was held in four detention centres before he was put on the flight, the relatives told the BBC.

Chacón has now convinced herself that her cousin was dead, as the family searched for him for close to a week without any positive outcome. “So many days have passed… we aren’t getting any answers,” BBC quoted her as saying.

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A damaged building with debris scattered in the foreground in the Playa Grande neighborhood of Catia la Mar, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, after earthquakes the previous week. (Image: Pool Photo via AP)

Lopez’s wife Mildrey Sarazo, who hadn’t seen her husband for three years, has not yet told her young daughter of ages 9 and 15, about this. “We want them to hand him over so we can identify him and be certain,” she told the BBC as she waited for proof and the body of his husband.

The family of 28-year-old Daniel Alejandro Nunez was also grappling with uncertainty amid conflicting reports. Numez, too, had called his mother upon returning to Venezuela. “We’ve searched for him in hospitals, in morgues – everywhere,” the BBC quoted his stepfather, Jose Alejandro Abache, as saying.

Among the few of the Flight 164 passengers who survived the quakes were 58-year-old Lisbeth Portillo and 22-year-old Anderson Daniel Salcedo.

Portillo said she was lying on a bed in a second-floor room, which she shared with 16 other women, when the building collapsed. Speaking to the news agency, Associated Press (AP), she said, “I saw the woman next to me start to fall… they were all screaming for help … I was born again – God gave me a second chance.”

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Salcedo’s legs had to be amputated after sustaining serious injuries in the disaster. His relatives alerted his mother after they found him at Caracas’s university hospital, news agency Reuters reported. Salce. do’s mother rushed to the Venezuelan capital to see his son, who had lived in the US for three years, sending money home, before being deported.

“He spent 40 hours in that hole; he didn’t have an ID. They couldn’t account for him because he had no documents. We had no way to communicate with him and didn’t know anything,” Reuters quoted his grandmother, Marlene Lozano,  as saying. “Here we are praying, asking God to give him strength and courage. We know he won’t be the same anymore – he’s missing his legs – but we love him, just the way he is,” she added.

Venezuela posts helpline numbers for earthquake victims’ relatives

The Venezuelan government has posted helpline numbers for the public to enquire. However, the information has been limited in the wake of the national disaster. The passengers of Flight 164, including 19 women and seven children, had undergone medical examinations on arrival. After getting their documentation done, the Venezuelan authorities accommodated them in Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira. The area has been hit particularly hard with severe damage and crumbled buildings.

— with inputs from BBC