A Venezuelan mother and her 18-day-old baby miraculously survived 32 hours trapped beneath the rubble of their collapsed home before being pulled to safety, in a rescue that has become a symbol of hope as the country's earthquake death toll climbed past 1,700, with thousands more still missing.
Dayana Patino told the BBC that her son Juan David gave her the will to stay conscious through the ordeal.
"As long as he was alive, I was going to be alive. Every now and then I was touching his nose for proof that he was still breathing," she said.
Footage of the rescue, which showed Patino's husband Gerson embracing his son after the recovery, has become a symbol of hope in Venezuela following Wednesday's twin earthquakes.
Patino said she had been doing housework in her eighth-floor apartment in La Guaira when the quakes struck.
"I felt like I was flying. After that, I felt like I was sinking in water and dirt, and then I fell into the pit where I remained. I don't know how I didn't let go of my baby because I was flying. I got crushed against furniture," she told the BBC.
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She said she eventually heard her brother calling her name and screamed "Here I am" with all her strength, prompting a rescue operation that freed her and her baby on Thursday night.
Death Toll Rises Past 1,700
The acting president's brother and National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez put the confirmed death toll at 1,719 on Monday, with 5,034 injured and 15,866 left homeless, Reuters reported.
Authorities said the country had received support from 30 nations, including 1,000 metric tons of supplies, more than 3,600 rescue and support workers, and 118 search-and-rescue dogs.
Websites where citizens register missing loved ones showed about 45,000 people still unaccounted for, though it remained unclear how many were still trapped. Among the seeming miracles was the rescue of 21-year-old Aaron Levi, pulled from a collapsed building in La Guaira after 106 hours trapped under rubble, in an operation that lasted 43 hours.
Rodriguez urged Venezuelans to remain calm, warning against "manipulation strategies on social networks." Frustration has nonetheless mounted in some areas over the pace of government assistance, with residents in hard-hit regions reporting they had received little official support.
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