Five Italians from same family killed in Venezuela earthquake; rescue efforts suspended

A devastating earthquake in Venezuela has claimed the lives of five members of an Italian family from Licusati, a fraction of Camerota in the Salerno region. Local sources report that the Garofalo family, who had resided in La Guaira, one of the areas hardest hit by the seismic event, are among the casualties. Their deaths are in addition to the 11 Italian citizens previously confirmed deceased by the Farnesina, Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a separate, harrowing incident, Italian firefighters were forced to suspend rescue operations for a woman and two of her three children trapped in a collapsed building in Macuto. Despite working for nearly twenty hours, the rescue team had to abandon their efforts. This difficult decision was made due to deteriorating safety conditions at the site, as the building continued to shift, and the lack of any further signs of life from the mother and children who had been trapped for days.

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We are doing everything we can to help this devastated people.

The earthquake has left a trail of destruction across Venezuela, with coastal towns like Macuto experiencing significant damage as buildings crumbled or slid towards the sea. The national death toll has risen to 1,719, according to the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez. Beyond the fatalities, the Italian community in Venezuela is grappling with 4 injured, 40 missing, and 29 accounted for. The body of Enzo Cuomo, originally from Salerno, was recovered in Caracas, along with those of his wife and daughter.

Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, has pledged further aid for the Venezuelan population, stating that "We are doing everything we can to help this devastated people." The rescue efforts in Macuto, though ultimately unsuccessful in saving the trapped mother and children, were marked by intense dedication, with the Italian ambassador to Venezuela, Giovanni Umberto Di Vito, present to support the rescue teams. The operation highlighted the profound human spirit involved in such disaster response, even when faced with tragic outcomes.

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We have to face reality. There were no longer safe conditions - the building moved. Furthermore, we were no longer receiving any signal from the mother and her children.