Seventy-two hours. Three days of darkness, dust, and collapsing hope. And then, a cry.
American search-and-rescue teams pulled a nine-month-old infant alive from beneath the rubble in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, days after the country's devastating twin earthquakes. The baby was rescued alongside her mother. Both sustained only minor injuries.
The rescue was carried out by the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue team, USA-01, which deployed to Venezuela on June 26. The State Department shared video of the moment on social media. In it, American rescuers pass a tiny child, limp and alive, up through broken concrete into the light.
"Against impossible odds, hope endures," the State Department wrote.
The twin earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24 measured 7.2 and 7.5. The official death toll has reached 1,430, with more than 3,200 injured. The United Nations estimates up to 50,000 people are missing and nearly 7 million affected.
La Guaira, the coastal state hardest hit, has become a landscape of collapsed residential towers and desperate families. More than 16 nations have sent over 1,000 international rescuers. The hours are running out. The window for finding survivors alive narrows with every passing day.
And yet.
The U.S. rescue team and local firefighters also pulled the baby's mother from the rubble alongside her. A mother and her child, buried together, found together, carried out together.
The White House shared the video, calling it "America at its best."
It is hard to argue with that.
