LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — A mix of rescue teams and civilians on Sunday peered at a mountain of rubble almost indistinguishable from the other ruins lining swathes of the northern Venezuelan coast following two devastating earthquakes.
In the days since Wednesday’s devastating 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas.
Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela.
Teams gently carried the man from the structure where he had been trapped for four days, his body slack but still gripping his phone, onto a black tarp and administered an IV.
Then came his young son, pulled shirtless and almost unresponsive over a pack of hard-hat clad rescue workers with the words “Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue” emblazoned on the backs.
“Slow, slow, gentle, gentle,” chanted rescue teams in a mix of Spanish and English, as they passed the father and son through a crowd of onlookers into a nearby ambulance.
PHOTOS: From the rubble in Venezuela, an unexpected story of survival cuts through days of tragedy
The teams burst out into applause days into search and rescue efforts, at a time that hope of finding survivors was dimming.
Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez and Matías Delacroix were among the throng of people who witnessed the rescue.
On Sunday, Arraez said they were scouring the La Guaira region “trying to see if we can see any miracles” when they found the U.S. rescue teams and local civilians calmly working to pull the father and son out of the building.
“At this stage many begin to lose hope. You see that in their faces,” Arraez said, as helicopters flew overhead. “When somebody makes it out alive, this father and son. It’s more than a glimpse, it’s real hope for people.”
The one-two punch of the earthquakes has been the greatest natural disaster the South American nation has faced in decades.
Authorities reported 1,450 people were dead on Sunday, with thousands more injured and many more missing.
The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.
But small moments of optimism, solidarity and humanity like this have cut through almost overwhelming grief.
Venezuelan firefighters poured water into the mouth of a dust-covered dog peeking its head through cracks in the concrete.
After being trapped for 70 hours, one woman sat up on a stretcher, grinning and waving at cheering crowds as she was loaded on a gurney into an ambulance.
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Associated Press photojournalist Matías Delacroix contributed to this report.
