Ex-New York Mets Pitcher in Venezuela Escapes Death: ‘It Was God’

During the recent Venezuela earthquakes, former New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia said that “it was God” who saved him from death. He said the elevator he entered did not take him to the floor he wanted; instead, it led him down to the basement just before the building collapsed. He escaped death when the natural disaster hit.

According to The New York Post, Mejia, who is currently playing for the La Guaira Delfines of the Venezuelan Major League, was returning to his hotel room when a magnitude-7.2 earthquake hit about 100 miles west of Caracas near San Felipe at 6 p.m. on June 24. Another one, a 7.5-magnitude temblor, also struck Yumare, 27 miles away, less than a minute later (39 seconds), leaving iver 589 people reported dead and injuring 2,980 others.

The 36-year-old, staying at the Hotel Eduards in La Guaira, was heading back to his room after a session in the hotel’s gym. With Mejia having a room on the sixth floor, he stated that instead of the elevator going up, it took him to the ground floor after another person had summoned it, according to an interview he gave to “Mañana Deportiva,” as reported by Diario Libre.

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“I was in the gym area. And at that moment, I took the elevator to leave,” Mejia said. “In fact, I had pressed number 6, which was where my floor was. But… I think it was God because instead of going up, it went down to the basement.”

That brought the elevator to the bottom floor and out of the hotel, where, 40 seconds later, the building collapsed.

“The door opened directly into the lobby. That’s when I came out, and the building started to collapse,” Mejia said.

Mejia, who played for the Mets from 2010 to 2015, said he believes that he and an elderly man he helped rescue were the only survivors.

“With the agility I have, I helped an elderly gentleman. I was able to drag him away, take him with me,” he recalled. “I think only he and I (came out alive), the others are still there, trapped under the rubble.”

He also said that he couldn’t fly back home to the Dominican Republic as all flights had been suspended due to the earthquakes. He revealed that he had lost all his possessions, including his passport.