CNN team witnesses rescue from rubble in La Guaira
A CNN team in Venezuela witnessed the moment a person was rescued from the rubble of a building in the hard-hit coastal city of La Guaira.
A human chain of civil defense personnel silenced onlookers as volunteers carefully pulled the person out of the ruins. One worker looked at the victim and raised his fist to show that the rescued person was alive. They were immediately given IV fluids and taken to a waiting ambulance for further treatment.
The sense of relief was palpable among rescue workers and bystanders alike. More than four days have passed since the devastating earthquake, and the window for finding survivors in the ruins is rapidly closing. One of the men, Hernan Sandoval, said he spent two consecutive days digging to find his “children, nephews and other family members.”
“Venezuela was not prepared for this, and to be honest, we were not prepared for the flu,” Sandoval said. “We’re still here, digging in hopes of finding bodies and traces. But faith is the last thing we lose.”
