The rescue came after hours of coordinated efforts involving Venezuelan responders alongside teams from France and the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team from Virginia, who located the pair beneath the debris of a collapsed structure in one of the regions hardest hit by Wednesday’s magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

The father emerged first, visibly exhausted and covered in dust while still holding his mobile phone. Rescuers immediately administered intravenous fluids before carefully carrying him on a stretcher through debris-filled streets. Minutes later, his shirtless son was extracted from the same structure and rushed to a waiting ambulance.

“Slow, slow, gentle, gentle,” rescuers repeatedly called in Spanish and English as emergency personnel passed the survivors through a line of responders and onlookers to awaiting medical teams.

The successful operation injected fresh optimism into rescue efforts that have entered a critical phase, with disaster specialists noting that the chances of finding survivors decline sharply after the first 72 hours beneath collapsed structures.

Authorities said at least 1,450 people have been killed, while thousands more were injured and many others remain missing following the twin earthquakes, the deadliest natural disaster to strike Venezuela in decades.

The father and son’s rescue followed another successful operation in which international teams saved a woman after she spent approximately 70 hours trapped beneath the rubble. Emergency responders also rescued several other survivors over the weekend as search operations continued across the affected coastal region.

Rescue crews, volunteers and local residents remain engaged in painstaking searches across collapsed neighborhoods, using specialized equipment to detect signs of life while carefully removing unstable debris.

The multinational response includes Venezuelan emergency services working alongside international rescue specialists, as helicopters, heavy equipment and medical teams continue operations across the disaster zone.