Rescue workers dig with bare hands in Venezuela quake ruins

Rescue teams in La Guaira, the worst-hit area of Venezuela’s earthquake disaster, are racing against time to pull survivors from collapsed buildings, Dagbladet reports.

Scenes in the coastal state show shattered concrete, with limbs of the dead protruding from rubble as desperate searches continue. José Bechara, a 52-year-old shopkeeper, told the paper he rescued his nephew using a car jack to lift a wall, though the man was confused and injured. Nearby, Ramón Regalado found the hand of a young woman clutching another adult’s—both dead under tons of debris.

Journalist Hirsaid Gómez, reporting from nearby Macuto and Caraballeda, said heavy machinery cannot reach many sites, forcing crews to dig with simple tools or their hands. “Every minute that passes is one less to save someone alive,” Gómez said.

Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez confirmed La Guaira as the hardest-hit region. Officials reported 920 dead and 3,360 injured as of Friday evening, with the toll expected to rise. A national missing-persons registry lists 50,000 as unaccounted for, a figure echoed by UN emergency relief chief Tom Fletcher.

The twin quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, struck Wednesday evening local time, followed by 20 aftershocks. Rodríguez declared a state of emergency as Maiquetía airport near Caracas closed due to severe damage. A tsunami warning was issued but later lifted.