Mother, 9-month-old baby pulled alive from Venezuela earthquake rubble; toll rises to 1,450

Another dramatic rescue operation has offered a glimmer of hope in earthquake-hit Venezuela after a US search-and-rescue team pulled a mother and her 9-month-old baby alive from beneath the rubble of a collapsed building.The emotional rescue, captured on video, shows emergency responders carefully clearing debris before safely extracting the pair.The operation was carried out by members of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team from Virginia, working alongside French Civil Security personnel. Before reaching the trapped victims, rescuers prepared intravenous drips and painstakingly removed unstable concrete to ensure a safe extraction.Father and son rescued after four days beneath debrisIn another remarkable rescue, a father and his son were pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in the coastal state of La Guaira on Sunday, four days after the devastating earthquakes struck the country.The rescue took nearly 12 hours, with French and US teams using specialised search cameras and carefully navigating unstable debris to reach the trapped pair."They are extremely weak, as any patient trapped under rubble for four days would be," a member of the French Civil Security told Reuters, adding that medical teams were administering fluids and medication throughout the slow extraction process.Death toll climbs to 1450At least 1,450 people have been confirmed dead after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela last week, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said in a televised address on Sunday. He added that 3,150 people have been injured, while rescue teams continue searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble."We are in critical hours, in crucial hours, to continue to save lives," Rodríguez said, stressing the urgency of ongoing search-and-rescue operations.Despite the odds, the successful rescues of the mother and her baby, followed by the father and son, have provided a rare moment of hope for rescue workers and families anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.Catch the latest world news and top headlines. Download the TOI App.