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No signs of life found for missing boy in Venezuela earthquake rubble
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Disasters & Emergencies

No signs of life found for missing boy in Venezuela earthquake rubble

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Ongoing story
  • Rescuers in Venezuela have found no signs of life in the collapsed Taihiti building where a 9-year-old boy is believed to be trapped.
  • Despite advanced technology like sonar and georadar yielding no results, the boy's family maintains hope, with his father insisting he can feel his son is alive.
  • The building's unstable condition, with new cracks and movement, poses significant risks to rescue operations, which are further complicated by the family's insistence on searching.

Rescue teams in Venezuela have not found any signs of life in the collapsed Taihiti building, where a 9-year-old boy named Fabio is feared to be trapped following a recent double earthquake. Despite extensive efforts using sonar and georadar, no indications of the child's presence have been detected.

The rescue teams, comprising various nationalities, spent the morning inspecting the twelve-story building in Caraballeda. The structure, located in the coastal region that bore the brunt of the earthquake, is highly unstable. Rescuers have reported new cracks and movement within the building, making any rescue attempt extremely perilous.

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

— Francisco BastardoThe father of the missing 9-year-old boy expresses his unwavering belief that his son is alive.

Fabio's family, however, remains steadfast in their belief that he is alive. "I don't lose hope that my son will appear. As long as the government allows me, I will continue searching for my boy because I haven't seen a real body, but I feel it here in my heart, I feel it in my body that Fabio is still alive because he responds to my calls," stated his father, Francisco Bastardo.

They haven't been able to do anything in that building.

— Grandmother of FabioExpressing frustration and distress over the lack of progress in the rescue efforts for her grandson.

Outside the building, where over fifty national and international rescuers worked under the watch of military and police, the boy's grandmother expressed frustration. "They haven't been able to do anything in that building," she cried, lamenting that despite being told there were no survivors, they were not allowed to search for their relatives.

This ongoing search follows the successful rescue of Hernán Gil, a 43-year-old security guard, who was pulled alive after eight days under the rubble. That operation, involving over 100 international rescuers, had offered a glimmer of hope. However, with each passing hour, the chances of finding anyone else alive diminish. The earthquakes, which struck on June 24th with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, have claimed at least 2,595 lives and injured 12,400 people.

No signs of life have been found.

— RescuersReporting the results of their search efforts using advanced technology.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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