Father and son rescued from Venezuelan earthquake rubble after four days

In a remarkable display of hope amidst devastation, a father and son were rescued from beneath the rubble in Venezuela's La Guaira state, four days after powerful earthquakes struck the region. Their survival offers a glimmer of hope to rescue teams racing against time to find others.

The coastal state was severely impacted by two major tremors, which have officially claimed at least 1,500 lives, with thousands still missing. The arduous rescue operation for the father and son lasted 12 hours. Specialized search cameras were used to carefully navigate the unstable debris, allowing teams to reach the trapped individuals.

A member of the French civil protection team described the survivors as "extremely weak," typical of patients trapped for four days. Efforts were underway to rehydrate them and administer medication during the slow extraction process. French civil protection and a search and rescue team from Fairfax County, Virginia, were involved in the operation. The American team had previously rescued a mother and her infant.

While at least 33 people were rescued over the weekend, concerns are mounting as time runs out for the thousands still unaccounted for. Experts emphasize that the probability of finding survivors drastically decreases after 72 hours post-earthquake.

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They are extremely weak, like any patient who has spent four days trapped under the rubble, so we are doing everything in our power to rehydrate them and give them various medications during the extraction process, which is going very slowly.