Argentine Footballer Lucas Trejo's Last IG Story Before His Wife and Children Were Found in the Earthquake Rubble

Argentine football player Lucas Trejo raced home after Venezuela's devastating earthquakes, only to face every family's worst nightmare as a desperate search began.

For nearly three days, Lucas Trejo searched the rubble alongside rescuers after losing contact with his wife and two children. As the effort unfolded, two deeply personal moments captured the heartbreak behind one of the disaster's most emotional stories.

The Argentine footballer never stopped searching for his family after Venezuela's devastating earthquakes. He remained near the collapsed apartment building where his wife and two young children had disappeared, helping rescuers dig through the rubble in hopes of finding them alive.

That hope came to a heartbreaking end Saturday night, June 27, 2026.

Authorities confirmed that Trejo's wife, Yanina Maranella, and the couple's children, Aarón and Ainhoa, had all been found dead after spending roughly 72 hours beneath the rubble, TMZ reported.

Trejo, who plays for Venezuelan club Sport Marítimo de La Guaira, had been in Caracas for a league match when the twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24.

According to Argentine outlet TN, he immediately returned to La Guaira after hearing what had happened, only to find that the apartment building where his family lived had completely collapsed.

Unable to reach Yanina or their children, Trejo joined relatives, volunteers, and emergency crews searching through the wreckage. He also appealed publicly for information and asked that rescue teams bring search dogs to help locate those trapped beneath the debris.

For days, supporters across Argentina and Venezuela followed his desperate search, hoping the family would be rescued before time ran out.

The Three-Day Search That Ended With the News He Feared Most

According to TN, Trejo never left the area after returning home. He worked alongside volunteers and rescue crews while officials continued searching the collapsed building in Playa Grande, one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquakes.

From the first hours after the disaster, Trejo used social media to ask anyone with information to come forward. He also urged authorities to send additional rescue resources, including specially trained search dogs, as crews continued removing debris.

As each hour passed, hopes of finding survivors became increasingly slim. Even so, Trejo stayed at the site until authorities confirmed the search had ended in tragedy.

While rescue crews searched through the rubble, many supporters looked back at the family moments Trejo had shared before the earthquakes — posts that soon took on a far different meaning.

The Birthday Photos That Mean Something Very Different Now

Only weeks before the disaster, Trejo shared what appeared to be an ordinary family celebration.

In an Instagram post marking Yanina's birthday, he shared photos of the couple smiling together, posing with Aarón and Ainhoa, and celebrating around her birthday cake.

"Happy birthday, my love!" Trejo wrote. "May God richly bless your life and continue to fulfill the desires of your heart. It is a blessing for us as a family to have you and to move forward in the purpose we have together! Have the best year of your life (so far) and let's keep our eyes and hearts on Jesus that big surprises are coming your way."

He ended the message with words that have since become especially heartbreaking: "I love you yesterday, today and always."

The birthday photos captured one of the family's final celebrations together. During the search itself, however, Trejo shared another image — one that appeared just hours before authorities confirmed the heartbreaking news.

The Family Photo Trejo Shared Just Before Everything Changed

Even as rescue crews continued searching, Trejo quietly shared another family photo.

Just hours before authorities confirmed that his wife and children had been found, Trejo posted an Instagram Story showing the family together during Yanina's birthday celebration.

The image shows Trejo and Yanina sitting together on a couch with Aarón and Ainhoa smiling beside them. Dressed in coordinated light-colored outfits, the family posed beneath a glowing restaurant sign during what appeared to be a joyful evening together.

At the time, the post appeared to be another cherished family memory. In hindsight, it became one of the final photos Trejo shared before learning that his wife and children would not be coming home.

The First Words Trejo Told His Mother After Returning Home

As rescue efforts continued, Trejo's father revealed what his son said after seeing the destruction for the first time.

Speaking with another Argentine outlet ElDoce.tv, José Luis Trejo recalled the phone call Lucas made to his mother after returning from Caracas.

"Lucas told his mother that it was devastated," José Luis said. "He had to play soccer in Caracas, and when he came back, the building was lying on the ground, everything was collapsed."

José Luis also said Yanina's car remained inside the building's parking garage, strengthening the family's belief that she and the children had been inside when the building fell.

Before authorities confirmed their deaths, José Luis and another of Lucas' brothers had planned to travel to Venezuela after the Municipality of Córdoba helped arrange passports and airline tickets so they could be with him during the search.

The Messages That Followed the Search’s Heartbreaking Ending

After authorities confirmed the deaths, tributes quickly poured in from teammates, friends, and clubs across Venezuela.

Sport Marítimo de La Guaira announced the news in a statement posted on Instagram, offering condolences to Trejo and noting that rescue crews had spent approximately 74 hours searching for his family.

Fellow Venezuelan club Deportivo La Guaira also shared a message on X, saying it joined in mourning the deaths of Yanina, Aarón, and Ainhoa while extending support to Trejo and his loved ones.

As reported by People, family friend and fellow football player Edson Alejandro Tortolero first shared news on Instagram Story that the bodies had been recovered.

"We inform all the people of Venezuela and Argentina that the bodies of Lucas Trejo's family members have been found lifeless," Tortolero wrote in Spanish. "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."

In a separate tribute, Tortolero reflected on the family's influence on his life.

"The TREJO-MARANELLA family came into my life and my family's life with the most beautiful purpose life could offer: to help me fall in love with God," he wrote. "We will be here looking after Lucas, just as he has looked after us since the day we met."

He ended his message with, "Faith and hope are the last things you should ever lose in life. We will rise again and keep moving forward."

What We Know About the Earthquakes That Changed Lucas Trejo’s Life

According to El País, two powerful earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela at 6:05 p.m. local time on June 24. The first quake's epicenter was between the towns of Yumare and Montalbán, but a second earthquake struck just 39 seconds later near the same location.

Although its magnitude was only 0.3 higher, the Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning the second quake released nearly three times more energy than the first, triggering widespread destruction across northern Venezuela.

In the days that followed, rescue crews from Venezuela and abroad rushed to the hardest-hit areas, particularly La Guaira, where Trejo's family had been trapped.

Reuters reported that rescuers continued searching for survivors on Sunday, with interim President Delcy Rodríguez saying operations would continue after additional people were pulled alive from the rubble.

She also announced that schools would remain closed for another week, while electricity had been restored to about 75% of La Guaira.

To speed emergency operations, authorities restricted access to roads leading into the state so rescue vehicles could move more efficiently.

The disaster's scale continues to emerge. According to Al Jazeera, citing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the death toll has climbed to nearly 1,500, while more than 51,000 people remain missing.

For Trejo, the search ended in tragedy after nearly three days beside the rubble. In the aftermath, his recent Instagram posts and Stories offered a glimpse of the family life he had shared with Yanina, Aarón, and Ainhoa just before the earthquakes.