Elevator Glitch Saves Former MLB Pitcher From Collapse

Sometimes the smallest moments make the biggest difference between life and death.

Former New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia had just finished his workout at Hotel Eduards in La Guaira, Venezuela, when he stepped into the elevator. He pressed the button for the sixth floor, where his room was waiting.

But the elevator didn't go up. Instead, it descended to the lobby, doors opening to the ground floor.

Confused but unworried, Mejia stepped out into the hotel lobby. That's when the building started to collapse around him.

Two massive earthquakes had just struck Venezuela. The hotel floors above him, including the sixth floor where he should have been, came crashing down.

"I think it was God because instead of going up, it went down to the basement," Mejia told Dominican radio station Mañana Deportiva. "The door opened directly into the lobby. That's when I came out and the building started to collapse."

Mejia didn't just save himself. He helped an older man escape the crumbling building, and both made it to safety.

The hotel had been hosting families of players and staff from two Venezuelan baseball teams. Many people remained trapped in the rubble. The earthquake's death toll has reached 589, with thousands still missing.

Mejia pitched five seasons with the Mets and became their closer in 2014. Though his major league career ended due to performance-enhancing drug violations, he was later reinstated and now plays in Venezuela's professional league.

The Bright Side

In a disaster that has devastated Venezuela, Mejia's story reminds us that hope exists even in the darkest moments. A simple elevator malfunction, the kind that normally frustrates us, became a lifesaving miracle. His quick thinking to help another person escape shows how crisis can bring out the best in people.

The U.S. military has arrived to support relief operations, and rescue teams continue searching for survivors. Every person pulled from the rubble, every story of survival like Mejia's, offers light to families still waiting for news.

Sometimes what feels like a mistake turns out to be exactly what we need.