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Thousands are feared dead in Venezuela after two massive earthquakes, but a former MLB pitcher is one of the lucky ones.
Jenrry Mejia, who now pitches in the Venezuelan Major League, said divine intervention in an elevator saved his life during the earthquakes.
Speaking to a Dominican radio station, Mejia said he had just finished training at the Hotel Eduards in La Guaira when, instead of going to the floor where he was staying, the elevator took him to the lobby so he could escape.
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Jenrry Mejia of the New York Mets pitches against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field in New York City on April 4, 2014. The Mets defeated the Reds 4-3. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
“I was in the training area. And at that moment I took the elevator to leave,” Mejia told “Mañana Deportiva.”
“Actually, 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 into the basement,” he continued. “The door opened right into the lobby. That’s when I came out and the building started to collapse.”
Mejia helped an elderly man out of the hotel and believes the two are the only ones to get out of the hotel alive.
Jenrry Mejia pitches in the ninth inning for his 28th save against the Washington Nationals in game one of a doubleheader at Nationals Park in Washington, DC, September 25, 2014. The Mets won 7-4. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
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“The others are still there, trapped under the rubble,” he said.
The hotel, according to the New York Post, citing local reports, hosted the families of players and staff from the Delfines and Guerreros de Lara baseball teams, with relatives of former MLB players Eliezer Alfonso and Gorkys Hernández missing.
Mejia pitched parts of five seasons for the New York Mets and became their closer in 2014, a year before they reached the World Series. But in the end, he became the first baseball player banned from Major League Baseball for life for violating its performance-enhancing drug policy.
Responders search for victims in a collapsed building in Caracas, Venezuela, after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and a 7.5 aftershock struck the region on June 24, 2026. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
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Mejia was suspended 80 games for his first offense in 2015. After hitting in seven games, he tested positive again and received a 162-game suspension. The following February, he tested positive for the third time, leading to his ban. He has since applied for and received reinstatement, but has not pitched in the major leagues since. He played minor-league ball for the Boston Red Sox organization.
The death toll has risen to 589 with thousands reported missing.
Venezuela won the World Baseball Classic earlier this year.
