Venezuela Rescuers Pull 21-Year-Old Alive After 106 Hours as Quake Death Toll Reaches 1,719
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 29
Venezuela Rescuers Pull 21-Year-Old Alive After 106 Hours as Quake Death Toll Reaches 1,719
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 29
Summary
Aaron Levi Cantillo, 21, was pulled from a collapsed building in La Guaira on Monday after 106 hours under rubble, capping a 43-hour rescue operation that drew cheers from onlookers.
Seven survivors found alive on Sunday kept crews digging past the 72-hour window disaster experts consider critical, even as hopes of more rescues faded.
The government raised the toll from Wednesday’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes to 1,719 dead, more than 5,000 injured and 15,800 displaced.
La Guaira remains the hardest-hit state, and officials there have been processing about 750 bodies a day, suggesting the official death count is far too low.
The U.N. has procured 10,000 body bags because many collapsed buildings are still unexcavated and the number of missing remains unclear.