Venezuela in ‘critical hours’ to find earthquake survivors as more search and rescue teams arrive – latest updates

Venezuela’s coastal state of La Guaira was hardest hit by the twin earthquakes on Wednesday. Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires as recovery efforts there continue:

All schools in Venezuela to remain closed this week - education ministry

All schools in Venezuela will remain closed until at least 6 June due to the extensive damage caused by the earthquakes that struck last week, the country’s education ministry has said.

The government has urged families to follow official channels to keep informed about the latest developments.

Schools have been shut since the two earthquakes hit within a minute of each other shortly after 6pm local time on Wednesday.

The education ministry subsequently said that schools would be converted into emergency relief centres and shelters for families affected by the earthquake.

There have been glimmers of hope in an ongoing tragedy that has shaken a country already mired in an economic crisis caused by years of crippling US-led sanctions, hyperinflation, government corruption and mismanagement.

A man and his teenage son were found alive under the rubble in Venezuela on Sunday, in a town about 40km north of the capital Caracas, AFP journalists reported. The discovery of survivors in Caraballeda was made by French and American rescue teams.

Thirty-three people were rescued from the rubble in Venezuela on Saturday, the country’s president said.

The US state department hailed the rescue of an infant by American rescue crews over the weekend, posting a video to X showing rescuers removing the wailing child from the rubble.

A Colombian rescue team saved an 11-year-old boy, Moises, who had been ​trapped about 3 metres (10 feet) deep in rubble, after identifying ​his location with a scanner, Reuters TV reported. He ⁠was removed on a stretcher with a broken arm. His mother and sister were killed.

On Friday, after 32 hours stuck under debris, a mother and her 18-day-old baby were found alive and rescued.

Rescuers in 'critical hours' to find survivors as death toll reaches 1,450

The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly has warned time is running out to rescue survivors trapped under the rubble.

The death toll from the earthquakes has risen to at least 1,450 people, with 3,150 injured and 12,721 others displaced, Jorge Rodríguez said yesterday in a televised address.

“We are in critical hours, in crucial hours to continue rescuing lives and to build camps where those people who have lost their homes, or who cannot return, for whatever reason, to their residences can stay,” Rodríguez said.

More search and rescue teams are arriving in Venezuela five days after the powerful 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck within a minute of each other on Wednesday evening, flattening buildings in the north of the country.

The second quake was one of the strongest tremors to hit Venezuela in a century. At least 68,900 people have been reported unaccounted for by their families.

Experts say the first 72 hours after natural disasters define the narrow window for rescuing the living. After that the search usually becomes one of recovering bodies.

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, says power has been restored to La Guaira, a port city near the country’s main international airport badly affected by the earthquakes.

But there is a severe shortage of heavy machinery needed to rescue survivors and state manpower has been lacking, meaning the government is reliant on international aid for assistance.