A former MLB catcher is clinging to hope that his missing wife and daughter are still alive beneath the rubble of a collapsed Venezuelan hotel — after rescuers pulled out the still-alive family dog on Friday.
Eliezer Alfonzo, 47, said he secured the heavy machinery needed to help rescue crews search the wreckage of the Hotel Eduards in Macuto, where his wife, Patricia Alfonzo, 50, and daughter, Eliana Alfonzo, 16, disappeared after a devastating earthquake on June 24.
The equipment played a crucial role in leading a US-based search-and-rescue team and their Venezuelan counterparts to a patch of hair they believed was human amid the rubble.
Instead, they felt his teen daughter’s dog, who let out a bark before the pet was removed from the debris. The rescue unit also found his wife’s cell phone.
“If my daughter’s little dog turned up, I think the two of them are in there,” Alfonzo told local reporter Maryorin Méndez. “I know my wife and daughter are real fighters.”
Alfonzo, who played for the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies, explained that he sought out help in his hometown Puerto La Cruz and arranged the machinery’s five-hour transport.
Alfonzo checked into Hotel Eduards on June 24 at 2:45 p.m. local time with his wife and his daughter, who is a US citizen.
He later departed the hotel and made his way to Estadio Fórum La Guaira to join the rest of the coaching staff of the Delfines de La Guaira, the team he manages, and prepare for a 6 p.m. game.
Alfonzo said he last spoke to Patricia a half hour before the first pitch as she and Eliana were getting ready to go to the game.
“I still don’t know if they had left the room,” he said.
The first earthquake, a 7.2 magnitude, was registered at 6:04 p.m., followed by a 7.5 magnitude quake 39 seconds later.
The wives of Delfines ballplayers Gorkys Hernández and Harold Chirinos were found dead under the hotel rubble.
Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Friday that the death toll from the earthquakes has risen to 2,595.
Alfonzo said he has faith that his wife and daughter will not be added to the tragedy’s death count.
“Tests have been conducted. They’ve brought in dogs. The dogs are picking up signs of life,” said Alfonzo, whose son Eliezer Jr., 26, was called up to the big leagues by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
A second son, Omar Alfonzo, 22, is in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system.
“And as I always say, I won’t stop until I have them in my hands. I remain confident that they are alive.”
