Former New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia says he believes “divine intervention” spared his life after an elevator unexpectedly took him to the wrong floor moments before his hotel in Venezuela collapsed during a deadly earthquake that killed more than 200 people.
Mejia, 36, told the Dominican sports radio program Mañana Deportiva that he had just finished working out and was returning to his room when powerful tremors struck the Caracas region 39 seconds apart, according to the Dominican newspaper Diario Libre.
The pitcher said he stepped into the elevator intending to go back to his room, but the lift instead headed down after another person called it, bringing him to the hotel’s ground floor near the main exit.
“I was in the gym area. And at that moment, I took the elevator to leave,” Mejia recalled. “In fact, I had pressed number six, which was where my floor was. But … I think it was God because instead of going up, it went down to the basement.”
Mejia described the sudden change in direction as an act of “divine intervention,” saying it placed him at the bottom of the building and allowed him to get outside roughly 40 seconds before the structure gave way.
“The door opened directly into the lobby. That’s when I came out and the building started to collapse,” he said.
Now pitching for La Guaira Delfines of the Venezuelan Major League, Mejia said he also helped an elderly man escape the hotel and believes the two of them may have been the only survivors from inside the building.
“With the agility I have, I helped an elderly gentleman. I was able to drag him away, take him with me,” he told the station. “I think only he and I (came out alive), the others are still there, trapped under the rubble.”
The city of La Guaira, located 15 miles north of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, was the hardest-hit area in the South American country during the earthquake.
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The magnitude-7.2 quake struck roughly 100 miles west of Caracas near San Felipe at 6 p.m. Wednesday, before an even bigger 7.5-magnitude temblor hit the town of Yumare, 27 miles away, 39 seconds later, according to the US Geological Survey.
The death toll rose to at least 235 people Thursday night. Another 1,520 people have been reported injured.
Here’s the latest on the Venezuela earthquakes
Mejia had been staying in the Venezuelan city of La Guaira, one of the hardest areas, where an estimated 70,000 families in the coastal state were affected by the deadly quake.
“It has become a disaster zone,” acting President Delcy Rodriguez said as rescue efforts comb through the many debris fields of collapsed buildings.
Mejia revealed he lost all of his possessions, including his passport and couldn’t fly home to the Dominican Republic because all flights had been suspended, according to El Nuevo Diario.
The ex-Mets closer pitched in Queens for his entire five-year MLB career from 2010 to 2015.
Mejia was banned for life by the league for failing his third drug test when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid, Boldenone, in February 2016.
Mejia was given a discretionary reinstatement from Commissioner Rob Manfred after he served the minimum two-year ban.
He briefly signed with the Red Sox on a minor league contract, making appearances across the team’s entire farm system during the 2019 season before playing several years with multiple teams in the Mexican League.
