Former New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia is apparently lucky to be alive after escaping a Venezuela hotel just moments before it collapsed during the devastating earthquakes that killed more than 500 people on Wednesday, June 24.
Mejia, 36, said he only got out of the building because the elevator he was in at the time carried him down, instead of up, after another person called the elevator at the last second.
“I was in the gym area,” he told Dominican sports radio show Mañana Deportiva. “And at that moment, I took the elevator to leave. 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.”
Mejia called it “divine intervention” that the elevator doors at the Hotel Eduards opened “directly into the lobby” just 40 seconds before the building began to crumble.
“That’s when I came out and the building started to collapse,” he said.
He continued, “With the agility I have, I helped an elderly gentleman. I was able to drag him away, take him with me. I think only he and I [came out alive], the others are still there, trapped under the rubble.”
The former MLB star added that he lost all of his belongings, including his passport, in the collapse, and is unable to return home to the Dominican Republic because flights out of the country have been suspended.
Mejia pitched for the Mets from 2010 to 2015, appearing in 113 games and starting 18. He was banned indefinitely from Major League Baseball in 2016 after his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, but was reinstated two years later. Mejia then signed with the Boston Red Sox, where he pitched in the organization’s minor league system but never reached the Majors again. He now pitches for the Venezuelan Major League.
Hotel Eduards is located in the Venezuelan city of La Guaira and hosts the family and staff of Mejia’s team, according to the New York Post.
Mejia is not the only athlete with MLB ties who was affected by its collapse. The wife and daughter of former reliever Eliezer Alfonso were also reported missing, as well as the wife of former MLB outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, according to local outlet El Regional del Zulia.
“We are devastated by the news of the earthquakes in Venezuela,” the Mets wrote in a statement shared via X on Thursday, June 25. “Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy.”
As of Friday, June 26, the death toll stands at 589 with 2,980 injured, according to Acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
