Venezuela welcomes 1,600 foreign rescuers as quake death toll rises

Venezuela received 1,600 foreign rescuers on Saturday as crews pressed into collapsed buildings and road-choked neighborhoods after twin earthquakes killed at least 920 people and injured 3,360 more. 172 people remained trapped, and more than 50,000 were still missing as responders worked through rubble in Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira.

Foreign ministry official Oliver Blanco said the rescuers had come in 17 flights, with 25 more flights expected within the next 24 hours. Authorities had already tightened access to La Guaira, closing roads from 8 p.m. except for official and registered response teams after congestion slowed rescue operations in the hardest-hit areas north of the capital.

In Caracas and Valencia, volunteers moved supplies on motorcycles past cracked highways and buildings reduced to broken concrete and twisted metal. In La Guaira city’s Hugo Chavez housing complex, Jennifer Palacios said her 6-year-old son and five other relatives remained buried, and the local community had been the one getting people out alive while cranes were still needed to move concrete slabs.

The earthquakes, magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, struck on Wednesday evening and were followed by a weaker 4.9 tremor on Friday afternoon. A U.N. report estimated direct damage at about $6.7 billion. Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía had been closed after damage, and schools were being used as shelters.