Venezuela earthquake death toll tops 1,400 — with rising soccer stars with dreams of playing on national team confirmed dead
Rescue workers from around the world battled aftershocks in Venezuela, as the desperate search for survivors of the catastrophic twin earthquakes entered its fourth day and the death toll climbed to over 1,400.
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Tens of thousands were also still unaccounted for after back-to-back temblors, which reached magnitude-7.2 and 7.5, rocked the nation on Wednesday, according to National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, CNN reported.
In addition to 1,430 found dead so far, 3,000 have been injured and at least 68,900 people have been reported missing.
Three of the victims were identified as young soccer players, including one rising star who had hopes of playing for the national team.
Yimvert Berroteran, 18, was confirmed dead by the Venezuelan Football Federation on Friday.
“Venezuelan football bids a heart-wrenching farewell to a young man who represented our country’s colors with pride, commitment and love,” the organization wrote in a tribute.
Berroteran played for Venezuela’s Under-20 team and was featured at forward in the 2025 Under-17 World Cup for the Land of Grace.
Two more young soccer players, 14-year old Victor Palacios and Razan Sijaa, who played on the U-18 Caracas FC team, were also killed by the fallout of the earthquakes, according to the Venezuelan Football Federation.
Earthquake aftershocks were felt around the country on Saturday, complicating rescue efforts.
“There have been rolling tremors every time we’re on a phone with my team down there,” Loyce Pace, the Red Cross’ director for the Americas, told CNN.
“It’s pretty constant and quite scary. It means that our teams have to be quite careful going into these communities to further assess the damage or deliver these services,” said Pace.
“People want to get back home, they want to feel safe again and yet there’s some insecurity to their infrastructure, these buildings that are literally falling down so we have to be quite careful in the weeks ahead,” she said.
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Aid to Venezuela is flying in from around the world with help abetted by the reopening of one of the runways at Simon Bolivar International Airport near capital Caracas on Saturday.
The United States is supporting Venezuela after launching a military operation on January 3 to capture now-incarcerated dictator Nicolas Maduro.
“We have a unique relationship, obviously, with the interim authorities, and we’re working very closely with them to address the needs, to get the logistics up and running,” a White House official said Saturday.
“You’ve got a lot of different groups from all around the world trying to land at the same airfield, you know, trying to get a picture of what air assets are open, trying to get limited ground logistics to get over there, so that’s something that you deal with in every single one of these situations,” the official said, according to CNN.
The US mobilized two elite search and rescue teams from Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue in Virginia and Los Angeles within hours of the deadly temblors.
European nation Lithuania — about 5,800 miles from the earthquakes’ epicenters outside Caracas — has deployed medical and rescue in union with fellow European nation Germany, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
The Netherlands sent 64 rescue workers and 4 canines to search the rubble for survivors.
Middle Eastern nation Qatar has also joined in rescue and recovery efforts, according to Interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Regional neighbor Argentina, led by President Javier Milei, is also sending help, with Rodriguez writing, “We value their backing and the commitment to accompany us in the rescue efforts and assistance to the affected families.”
A total of 21 international aid delegations, comprised of 2,000 workers, 96 search and rescue dogs, 40 cargo vehicles, and 3 metric tons of medicine have arrived in the country since Wednesday, CNN reported citing National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez.
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With Post wires
