International brigades are working against the clock this Friday in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, to reach Fabio, a nine-year-old boy who has been trapped under the debris of a 12-story building since the double earthquake that devastated northern Venezuela on June 24.
The rescuers estimate that the child is just six meters away, but progress is painstaking: the building's structure is so deteriorated that the team has had to shore it up with wood before they can continue drilling.
The formal rescue operation began at 11:00 PM local time on Wednesday, with specialists from El Salvador, Argentina, and Spain coordinating alongside Venezuelan Civil Protection personnel. The rescuers themselves acknowledged that "this could take a while."
This Friday, Spanish teams deployed drones equipped with thermal technology and tracking dogs to confirm whether Fabio is still alive, according to the EFE agency from the scene.
The family and the rescuers claim to have reasons to hold onto hope.
Rebeca, the child's grandmother, told EFE that last Sunday Fabio "responded to calls with a whistle" and that on the morning of this Friday "they heard noises like bangs" coming from beneath the rubble.
The grandmother also mentioned that before the emergency teams arrived, she and her family were "alone," digging through the rubble of the building for days.
The father of the minor awaits the ransom with anxiety. A member of the Venezuelan army told EFE that it is suspected that Fabio could be with the lifeless body of his mother, although a rescuer did not rule out the possibility that there may be at least six other people alive in that same area of the collapsed building.
The rescuers working at the site described the boy with a phrase that sums up the spirit of the operation: "Fabio is 9 years old and he is a champion."
The rescue of Fabio comes just one day after what many are already calling a miracle: that of the guard Hernán Gil, 43 years old, extricated alive on Thursday after eight days buried under more than 140 tons of rubble from the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in Catia La Mar.
During his confinement, Hernán was hydrated with serum introduced through a syringe via a tube. The operation lasted more than 72 hours and involved over 100 rescuers from seven countries.
That successful rescue keeps the spirits of the international brigades high, although the rescuers themselves warn that the chances of finding more survivors decrease as the hours go by.
Until this Friday, 13 people had been rescued alive from the rubble since the earthquakes occurred.
The double earthquake with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 that shook northern Venezuela on June 24 is the deadliest the country has experienced in the last century.
The official toll at the close of this Friday stands at least at 2,595 deceased and more than 12,400 injured, while the UN estimates that up to 68,000 people remain missing.
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