A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy has been pulled from the rubble six days after devastating back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela.
The country’s acting president has urged search teams not to give up hope, as the death toll from the disaster rises to more than 2,000.
More than 2,200 people have been killed, according to the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, with tens of thousands still missing.
The UN has ordered 10,000 body bags as the number of dead is expected to rise dramatically.
On the sixth day of search efforts, toddler Klieber Moran was the only person reported found alive.
Klieber was pulled from the rubble from the Los Corales Garden 1 building in La Guaira, the worst affected state.
He was rescued by workers from Jordan, as international search teams continue to scour collapsed buildings for survivors.
The child was rushed to hospital for treatment, but was reported to be in stable condition.
Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela and former head of the regime’s feared secret police, posted a video of the child being rescued.
She called the miracle a “source of hope for our people”.
But the thousands who are still missing have slim chances of being found alive.
The critical 72-hour window, after which chances of survival fall off a cliff, has elapsed.
And citizens are angry that their government is not doing more to help.
Many rescue efforts are led by amateur Venezuelans searching the rubble with their bare hands and pickaxes.
William Rodrigues, searching for his uncle, told the BBC: “We cannot just stand by idly when there’s the possibility that there might be people alive under the rubble.
“Help arrived very late in most places, and in some, it has still not arrived.”
Juan Avendo, 60, said: “We could hear the screams and shouts of people trapped under the rubble.
“So we tried to help them ourselves, using our bare hands, clawing through the debris with our nails.”
It comes after a young boy was found alive in the rubble on Monday and international teams rescued a mum and 18-day-old baby.
Astonishing footage showed the 12-year-old child being pulled from the wreckage of a collapsed building five days after the deadly quakes.
The child was pulled from the debris by Ecuador‘s Quito Fire Department – with jaw-dropping clips showing rescuers finding the boy and extracting him.
The rescuers from Ecuador said: “After hours of work, our USAR ECU – 01 team, in coordination with the Dominican Republic team, managed to rescue 12-year-old Carlos alive.”
“Five days after the earthquake, finding signs of life is the greatest boost to keep going.”
They added: “Every person rescued represents a family that regains hope and tells us it’s worth continuing the search.
“We remain deployed in Venezuela, holding firm to our commitment to find life where others still await an answer… as long as there is a possibility, we will keep searching.”
The country was rocked by violent back-to-back quakes on June 24.
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