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Toll rises in La Guaira
More than 72 hours after the double earthquake in Venezuela, the death toll continued to rise, reaching 1,450 dead and more than 50,000 missing, with La Guaira described as the area most affected by the disaster.
“The emotional story of an 18-day-old baby and his mother, who were rescued from the rubble after the double earthquake in Venezuela - Author, The Editorial Team - Role: BBC News Mundo - Published - Reading time: 5 minutes As the death toll from last Wednesday's devastating earthquakes in Venezuela rises above 1,700 dead, with more than 3,000 injured and tens of thousands missing, the coastal city of La Guaira, capital of the state of the same name — the hardest hit — is the scene of anguish, but also moments of relief and joy”
In Caraballeda, an 11-year-old boy was rescued alive on Sunday, June 28, after the tremors of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck the north of the country on Wednesday.
Interim president Delcy Rodríguez said on X, "At the moment, every life is a source of hope for Venezuela," as rescue teams continued searching the rubble.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, said the number of buildings affected or collapsed stood at 774, with 189 having suffered a total collapse, while UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher told AFP that more than 50,000 people were missing.
In La Guaira, residents forced on Sunday a group of soldiers to take pickaxes and shovels to help clear the rubble of a collapsed building, after AFP reported a general arrived with about twenty armed soldiers and stayed pressed against a wall.
Rescues, access limits, and quotes
As rescues continued in La Guaira state, Radio ABC Stereo said a father and his son were rescued alive this Sunday after nearly four days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Caraballeda.
The operation was led by specialized teams from France and the United States, and ABC Stereo reported that the boy was extracted first and minutes later his father, with both found conscious and receiving immediate medical attention.
In Caracas, residents said Venezuelan volunteers were refused access on Saturday to the most affected area, and Carlos Itriago, a 27-year-old rescuer, asked, "You need a permit to save lives, imagine?"
UN estimates cited by France 24 and franceinfo put missing people at more than 50,000, while franceinfo said the United Nations estimates 50,000 missing and described how rescuers used cameras slid under the rubble.
Sergeant Bastien, a rescuer with the French Civil Security, said, "We finally managed to pull out the young boy and his dad," after eight hours of intense effort by French and American groups.
Families search and what’s at risk
Even as individual rescues were recorded, the BBC described a situation in La Guaira where the death toll rose above 1,700 dead, with more than 3,000 injured and tens of thousands missing, and families continued digging by hand or with tools they found.
“On social media, the family of Félix Tovar, 70, is trying to mobilize donations of tools to help volunteers dig through the rubble of the bakery where he is believed to have been a week ago, at the time of the earthquakes in Venezuela”
Mark Fletcher, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP, "This is an extremely complex rescue operation," warning that the death toll could rise substantially.
In Marín, Pontevedra, Eduardo Campos told El País that he searched survivor lists for names and asked for machinery and a satellite dish to locate people among the ruins in La Guaira, where a family remained trapped in the "zero zone" of the twin earthquake.
El País reported that the Hernández Taberneiro family had emigrated to Galicia seven years ago and that there were four of the 138 Spaniards—dual nationals—missing in the collapse, with seventeen having died.
In the Playa Grande area, Folha de S.Paulo reported that Félix Tovar, 70, was believed to be buried under the rubble of the La Almendrina bakery, and his family said they had "none" help from the State while relying on volunteers and donated tools to search.
