A video of an 18-day-old baby and his mother being rescued from earthquake rubble in Venezuela has spread widely as families continue searching for missing loved ones.
The baby, Juan David, and his mother, Dayana Patino, were rescued in the coastal region of La Guaira after a reported 32-hour ordeal.
Patino later spoke from a hospital bed in Caracas, where she was recovering from injuries to her legs.
Patino said she had been washing dishes in her eighth-floor apartment when the earthquakes struck.
She told the BBC that she somehow managed to hold onto her baby as the building collapsed around them.
Patino said her son’s breathing and cries gave her the will to stay awake until rescuers could hear them.
People reported that rescuers heard Patino’s voice and the baby crying while digging through the collapsed building.
Video showed rescue workers crowding around the baby, who was wearing only a diaper and wrapped in a blanket.
Patino’s husband, Gerson, said he believed his wife and child were dead before seeing Juan David alive.
The rescue came after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, devastating parts of the country’s north-central coast.
The Associated Press reported Monday that authorities said the death toll had risen to 3,535, with 16,740 people injured.
AP also reported that more than 30,000 missing-person reports had been submitted to a website set up by Venezuela’s opposition. Officials have not released a confirmed national missing count.
La Guaira has become one of the centers of the disaster response.
Families have searched through collapsed buildings while rescue teams, firefighters and volunteers worked through unstable rubble.
The Guardian reported that a preliminary satellite analysis suggested tens of thousands of buildings may have been damaged or destroyed across affected areas.
International rescue teams have helped search collapsed buildings, though hopes of finding more survivors have faded as days pass.
The United Nations has warned that millions may need help with shelter, water, sanitation, medical care and other urgent needs.
For many Venezuelans, the rescue of Patino and Juan David became a brief moment of hope in a disaster still measured in rising numbers, missing families and neighborhoods reduced to rubble.