Vietnam rescue team recovers 30 earthquake victims from rubble in Venezuela

The team split into five search units on Friday, using information from local residents and other rescue teams, along with excavators and other equipment, to recover seven more bodies.

The recovered bodies were handed over to local authorities for burial procedures.

Two magnitude-7.2 and magnitude-7.5 earthquakes struck Venezuela seconds apart on June 24, causing devastating casualties and widespread property damage, with La Guaira being the hardest-hit state in the country.

According to Venezuela’s government, at least 2,295 people were killed in the quakes, which flattened or damaged some 59,000 buildings, injuring 11,267 and leaving about 16,000 homeless, Reuters reported.

The widespread devastation can be seen from space.

On June 28, Vietnam deployed a 124-member rescue contingent from the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security, along with 10 search dogs and dozens of tonnes of relief supplies, to assist Venezuela’s earthquake response.

Colonel Pham Hung Duong, deputy head of Vietnam’s Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue Police Department, said rescue operations became more demanding deeper inside the collapsed areas, requiring careful planning while ensuring the safety of personnel.

The team said it would continue efforts on Saturday to recover victims already located but not yet retrieved because of time constraints and expand searches for additional trapped victims.

Medical personnel also disinfected cleared search areas and supported other rescue teams with sanitation work to help protect responders’ health.