A football star has paid emotional tribute to his heroic wife died after she gave her life to protect the couple’s one-year-old daughter during the devastating Venezuela earthquakes. Héctor Bello, who is a defender for second division side Marítimo de La Guaira, lost his wife Andrea when their building collapsed in the disaster.

Taking to social media he penned: "You left us alone in the fight, mummy. You left me all alone with our daughter." In a second post he cried: "How do I tell that to my daughter? Andrea, how do I explain to your daughter that you lost your life to save hers and I wasn’t there in that moment to do anything? How do I explain? Give me strength now because I can’t take any more." Andrea was pulled from the rubble of the building having used her own body to protect her baby daughter. Miraculously, the toddler survived and was rescued.

He subsequently added another heartfelt message writing: "You’ll always be our favourite hero, Mummy. I’m going to make sure our baby remembers how wonderful you were, how much you loved her.

“I’ll tell her the story of how you saved her, how you gave your own life for our daughter, how you were a brave woman who, even with your last breath, never abandoned her.

"You would laugh all in love and your cheeks would turn red," he recalled. "Oh Andrea, Mummy, I can’t handle this, my love, I really can’t.”

Héctor, also known as “Kike”, has spent the bulk of his career playing for Zulia FC where he plays as a central defender.

The first tremor, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake, hit late on Wednesday, 24 June local time near the capital Caracas. A mere 39 seconds later, an even more powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the South American nation.

Videos shared on social media captured vehicles shaking violently, smoke engulfing the streets and significant damage within buildings.

The USGS previously warned that a high number of casualties and widespread damage were likely, with the disaster expected to have far-reaching consequences.