Rescue team pulls puppy from rubble five days after Venezuela quakes

A Salvadoran search-and-rescue team pulled Giselle, a puppy trapped for five days, from a collapsed building in Caraballeda after hearing barking from the rubble. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said the rescue took five hours and asked the dog’s owner to come forward with proof of ownership.

The rescue unfolded in La Guaira, on Venezuela’s hard-hit coast, after twin earthquakes struck north-central Venezuela on June 24, 2026. The quakes measured 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude and were centered about 160 kilometers west of Caracas. In one account they were about 39 seconds apart, and in another they came less than a minute apart. The stronger quake was the largest in Venezuela since 1900.

The human toll climbed sharply as emergency teams pushed through damaged neighborhoods. Venezuelan officials later put the death toll at at least 1,943, with 10,571 people injured and 28,380 receiving care in hospitals or temporary camps. More than 770 buildings were partially or completely destroyed.

The search effort drew 44 international urban search-and-rescue teams, along with 2,245 specialists and 140 search dogs deployed at Venezuela’s request, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The operation also turned up other signs of survival in the ruins, including an infant and two 11-year-old boys who were pulled out alive.

Rescuers faced aftershocks, scarce heavy machinery and broken infrastructure across affected areas. Residents and volunteers also complained that the official response was slow in some places, even as crews kept working through the rubble. Among the best-known canine helpers was Tsunami, a rescue dog credited with helping locate survivors and saving at least 13 people before being retired.