A father and his son were rescued alive Sunday from beneath the collapsed remains of a building in Venezuela's La Guaira state, five days after the catastrophic twin earthquakes that devastated the country, in a moment of raw, improbable hope amid the mounting death toll.
The two were carried out on improvised stretchers to a waiting ambulance, pale and exhausted, wearing oxygen masks, as crowds that had gathered in the debris-strewn streets watched in silence and relief.
The rescue, completed after 12 grueling hours of painstaking work, was carried out by French and American search-and-rescue teams using specialized search cameras to locate the pair. The men had been buried under three floors of collapsed concrete, with rescuers unable to approach from the sides for fear of triggering further collapse. "The only way is to dig from above," French soldiers explained.
Throughout the operation, rescuers lowered food, water, and medication to the father and son, maintaining communication with them through specialized equipment. A member of France's civil defense forces described their condition simply: "They are very weak, as any patient trapped under rubble for four days would be, so we are doing everything we can to rehydrate them and administer various medications during the rescue process, which is progressing very slowly."
The rescue came after the critical 72-hour window that experts say marks a dramatic drop in the odds of finding survivors alive, making Sunday's outcome all the more remarkable. The day before, American teams operating in the same rescued a mother and her nine-month-old baby.
Argentine rescuers with sniffer dogs are also working the zone. According to Reuters, at least 33 people were pulled alive over the weekend by international rescue teams working across the disaster area.
La Guaira, the coastal state just north of the capital Caracas, bore the brunt of the earthquakes that struck on June 24. The official death toll has now reached at least 1,450, with tens of thousands still listed as missing.
The father and son are alive. In Venezuela right now, that is everything.
