With time running out, Venezuelans comb rubble for survivors

RESCUE workers carry a baby rescued from the rubble in La Guaira.—Reuters • Death toll from deadly quakes rises to 1,450, with tens of thousands still missing• Newborn, two boys pulled out alive from rubble after three days LA GUAIRA: Rescue crews raced on Sunday to find survivors in the rubble of Venezuela’s powerful earthquakes as the death toll reached 1,450 and hopes dwindled more than three days after the earth roared and rumbled. Tens of thousands of people were reported missing as collapsed buildings dotted cities in a country already enduring an economic crisis and political upheaval after US forces captured former president Nicolas Maduro in January. Millions of people were also feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs. Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters are the key, narrow window for finding the living. After that the search becomes one of recovering bodies. The US Geological Sur­vey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America’s deadliest of the last century. A Salvadoran rescue worker who declined to give his name put it this way: “At this point, they are probably dead bodies. Thanks to God maybe we can find people still alive.” An 11-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble in Caraballeda, north of Car­acas, on Saturday, three days after the magnitude tremors, interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said. “Every life is a source of hope for Venezuela,” she said in a post on X, accompanied by a video of the rescue. A Colombian rescue team saved another 11-year-old boy, Moises, who had been trapped some 10 feet deep in rubble, after identifying his location with a scanner, Reuters TV reported. He was removed on a stretcher with a broken arm, his eyes covered by cloth to protect them from the shock of daylight. His mother and sister were killed. Facing public outrage at the response by local officials, Rodriguez thanked other countries for the outpouring