The body of a young model, found still holding her cherished dog, has been recovered from the wreckage of a building that collapsed after the powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela.
Oriana Ustariz, 25, had earned her physiotherapy degree only days before two major earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, hit in quick succession last week.
Search teams discovered her body on June 30 amid the debris of the Moisés building in Caracas’s San Bernardino district.
According to local reports, the fashion model and brand promoter had been the final resident of the apartment block still listed as missing.
Her mother reportedly last heard from Ms Ustariz after she had gone out to walk her dog, believed to have been named Kai.
Rescue workers later found her beneath the rubble, still embracing the small dog.
Ms Ustariz, recognized by many for her curly red hair, had posted images from her graduation ceremony just days before the disaster.
In the social media caption accompanying the photos, she wrote: “Achievements mean more when you’re surrounded by the people you love most.”
Oriana Ustariz, 25, graduated with a degree in physiotherapy just days before 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes hit back-to-back last week
Her body was discovered during intensive search efforts at the Moisés building in the San Bernardino district of Caracas on June 30 (Ms Ustariz is pictured with her beloved dog Kai)
Ms Ustariz described herself online as ‘a lover of the beach and an ice-cold beer’ with her bio featuring the words: ‘Fight for your dreams – nothing falls from the sky’
Almost 2,600 people are confirmed to have died following one of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters, which collapsed up to 200 structures
She described herself online as ‘a lover of the beach and an ice-cold beer’ with her bio featuring the words: ‘Fight for your dreams – nothing falls from the sky.’
Her body will now undergo post-mortem examinations.
Heavy machinery remains at the Moisés building to clear the remaining rubble and demolish what is left of the unstable structure.
Almost 2,600 people are confirmed to have died following one of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters, which collapsed up to 200 structures.
The United Nations estimates at least 50,000 people could still be unaccounted for.
Eliezer Alfonzo, a former Major League Baseball player, refuses to give up hope of finding his wife and teenage daughter, who were on the fourth floor of an eight-storey hotel when the earthquakes struck.
Mr Alfonzo, who debuted in the Major Leagues in 2006 with the Giants, has been digging in the ruins of the hotel in Macuto in coastal La Guaira.
La Guaira, once a festive seaside resort, was the hardest-hit region in Venezuela and the epicentre of the majority of deaths.
The last time her mother heard from her daughter was when she went out to walk her dog
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Her body will now undergo post-mortem examinations
Eliezer Alfonzo, a former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, refuses to give up hope finding his wife and teenage daughter who were on the fourth floor of a hotel when disaster struck
Alfonzo, 47, said his daughter Eliana Patricia and wife Patricia Alejandra were getting ready to accompany him to the Delfines de La Guaira game, the team in Venezuela’s Major Professional Baseball League that he manages, when disaster struck.
Before American rescuers arrived, 20 miners from Tumeremo, a gold-rich town in the southern Bolívar state, tunnelled through the rubble of the eight-storey hotel.
On Friday afternoon, they found Mila, the family’s three-month-old dog, alive. Her barking alerted rescuers to possible signs of life.
In recent hours, tests have been conducted to detect life among the rubble.
‘If my daughter’s dog turned up, I think they’re both there because I know they’re quite resilient,’ Mr Alfonzo told AFP.
‘The dogs are showing signs of life. Until I have them in my arms, I’ll continue to believe they’re alive. I will stay until the end.’
Aloa Gonzalez is also holding on to hope after spending night and day beside the ruins of the Tahiti Residence waiting for news of her sister and aunt.
Rescue teams deployed dogs and listened to the rubble with a high-intensity sound detector. On Friday, it was concluded there were no more signs of life.
But this didn’t stop the search from going viral on social media as unconfirmed reports of a survivor, said to be a young boy, spread online.
Hernan Gil, 43, was astonishingly rescued from the rubble in Playa Grande, a neighborhood of Catia La Mar, in a dramatic operation involving rescuers from seven countries
Floors of an apartment block were seen stacked on top of each other following two devastating earthquakes in Venezuela
Ms Gonzalez said she heard rumours there had been ‘a knock, a sound, that there was a 70 per cent certainty there was life’.
’70 per cent certain? We’re all going to do our best to get that life out,’ she said.
Jose Francisco Liendo, who is still searching for the remains of his father and sister, said the rumours were ‘playing with the families’ pain’.
‘They said supposedly there’s a boy who’s alive, that the boy is breathing, then that the boy is urinating, then that he hit something to signal,’ Mr Liendo said.
‘They don’t tell the whole truth. I mean, they’re playing with the families’ pain.’
Almost 6,500 people have been rescued after twin earthquakes struck La Guaira and Caracas. Chances of survival diminish considerably after 72 hours.
Security guard Hernán Gil was rescued after he spent almost eight days under the rubble, with rescuers supplying him with water and oxygen through tubes.
Search efforts and debris removal operations are continuing in affected areas as interim President Delcy Rodríguez ruled out resorting to mass graves.
The government has insisted the deceased will be individually identified.
