The wife and daughter of former Major League Baseball player Eliezer Alfonso are among the missing following the collapse of the Hotel Eduard in La Guaira, Venezuela, as a result of the pair of severe earthquakes that hit the South American country on Wednesday evening.
Along with Alfonso’s wife and daughter, the wife of former MLB player Gorkys Hernandez is also missing, according to a report from El Regional del Zulia, a newspaper from the Venezuelan state of Zulia, which is located in the western part of Venezuela, which was less affected by the earthquakes.
El Regional also reported that former MLB pitcher Jenrry Mejia escaped the hotel, which was located in Macuto, not far from Estadio Jorge Luis Carneiro, where the Delfines de La Guaira of the Liga Mayor de Beisbol Profesional, Venezuela’s summer professional league, were scheduled to play a game against the Samanes de Aragua on Wednesday night around the time the earthquakes struck.
In an interview with former MLB player and baseball podcaster Carlos Baerga, 12-year MLB veteran Alvaro Espinoza confirmed the collapse of the hotel where many players’ families were staying. Espinoza is on the coaching staff of the Samanes de Aragua.
“I see a cloud of dust and what I hear is: the relatives, the relatives! We are all in shock… I saw the players start running, they were going to see [if they could find] their relatives because the hotel had collapsed,” Espinoza told Baerga.
#URGENTE | Álvaro Espinoza confirma que el hotel donde estaban los familiares de los peloteros colapsó.
En la foto se ve a Gorkys Hernandez devastado.
? pic.twitter.com/q7BOiDt2mT— Juan Pablo González ?? (@Juanegron) June 25, 2026
The LMBP announced on Thursday that the season is suspended until further notice.
Former MLB pitcher and La Guaira native Kelvim Escobar posted on X a photo of his granddaughter and her mother, writing, “I don’t know anything about my granddaughter and her mother. What desperation” along with a crying emoji.
No se nada de mi nieta y su mama, que desesperacion ? pic.twitter.com/ElWOwOBOSt
— Kelvim Escobar (@kelvimescobar) June 25, 2026
According to the United States Geological Survey website, a pair of earthquakes centered approximately 28 kilometers southeast of Yumare in the Venezuelan state of Yaracuy struck less than a minute apart on Wednesday evening, with a 7.2 magnitude temblor shaking the ground at 6:04 p.m. local time, followed by a 7.5 magnitude quake at 6:05 p.m.
Referred to as a doublet earthquake by geologists, the pair of quakes caused numerous building collapses and closed Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maquetia, the main airport serving Caracas and La Guaira.
Photo: Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a building that collapsed in an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
