Father's unwavering hope fuels search for son trapped in Venezuela earthquake rubble

Rescue operations are intensely focused on locating Fabio Bastardo, a nine-year-old Venezuelan boy, who remains trapped beneath the collapsed Taihiti building in Caraballeda. The twelve-story structure is part of an area heavily damaged by a recent 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck the central Venezuelan coast on June 24, 2026.

International rescue teams from Spain and Portugal are collaborating with local emergency services. They are employing sophisticated equipment, including mechanical sensors, canine units, and drones, to detect any signs of life and plan their approach into the concrete debris. The operation is being closely monitored by the boy's family, who claim to have perceived acoustic signals from within the collapse zone.

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I feel here in my heart, I feel it in my body that Fabio is still alive.

Fabio's father, Francisco Bastardo, a mariner who was at sea in the Strait of Hormuz when the earthquake hit, returned to Venezuela on Sunday to join the search efforts. He shared a poignant moment, having been on a video call with his family when the tremors began. "I feel here in my heart, I feel it in my body that Fabio is still alive," Bastardo told EFE, recounting how his son had alerted his mother to the impending earthquake just before their communication was cut off.

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The minor was the one who noticed, my boy has always been a very intelligent boy, he ran into the living room and told his mother that it was going to shake, I received the message through the app; The mother hugs him and then the signal cuts off.

The boy's grandmother, Rebeca, confirmed that family members have maintained a vigil since Thursday. They reported hearing a whistling response to their calls on Sunday and, on Friday morning, detected sounds resembling mechanical tapping from within the rubble. "I do not lose hope that my son will appear. As long as the government allows me, I will continue searching for my boy because I have not seen a real body, but I feel it here in my heart, I feel it in my body that Fabio is alive because he responds to my calls," Bastardo reiterated.

While the technical probability of finding survivors decreases with time, the rescue efforts received a boost from the successful extraction of Hernán Gil, a 43-year-old security guard, who was rescued alive on Thursday after eight days trapped in a nearby area. Official statistics from emergency authorities indicate that the overall victim count from the seismic event in northern Venezuela continues to rise.

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I do not lose hope that my son will appear. As long as the government allows me, I will continue searching for my boy because I have not seen a real body, but I feel it here in my heart, I feel it in my body that Fabio is alive because he responds to my calls.