Desperate search continues in Venezuela as residents plead for heavy equipment

(26 Jun 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Playa Los Cocos, La Guaira, Venezuela - 26 June 2026 1. Various of people searching through the debris of a collapsed building at Playa Los Cocos in La Guaira state 2. Woman crying, UPSOUND (Spanish) "Until when !?" 3. Various of Nazareth Jiménez looking at collapsed building, crying 4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Nazareth Jimenez, resident with family members missing after earthquakes: "We are calling on the government and countries around the world to help us. Look, what we need here is heavy machinery. Human strength isn't enough. A person can't move these structures. We need help, please. We need heavy equipment. There are still people alive under there. We need machinery, rescue assistance. Please help us. There are still families alive under there." 5. Man using a large hammer to break through and remove debris 6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Nazareth Jiménez, has family members missing after earthquakes: "My brother, my sister-in-law, my niece, my nephew, and friends are in there. I got here yesterday at four in the afternoon because I came from another city. And nothing has happened here. Everything is exactly the same. They haven't cleared anything. Where is the help? I don't see it. Yes, there's plenty of water, but water isn't enough for this. Look, there's still smoke. I don't see firefighters putting out the fire. I don't see anything." 7. People walking among debris 8. People sitting next to provisions, pushing supermarket trolleys 9. Dalia Ramírez sitting in front of a collapsed building 10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dalia Ramírez, her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren died when a large government-funded residential building collapsed: "I'm devastated. I'm in so much pain—a pain I'll never get over. I tell my son that I'll carry him in my heart until my last breath. I wouldn't wish this pain on any mother, because it's overwhelming. I never imagined I'd experience a pain like this in my life. I pray that God gives me the strength to carry on." 11. Various of Omar Reyes walking along the rubble of what was his home, looking for wife and children 12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Omar Reyes, local resident, lost family members during the earthquakes: "More than twenty of my relatives have died here and in the Caribbean area, in Tanaguarena. I've been left practically alone in this world, I'm alone." 13. Army personnel arriving 14. Army delivering food 15. Various of destroyed buildings STORYLINE: Neighbors and rescue crews on Friday sifted through the rubble in search of survivors after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela, killing at least 589 people, injuring nearly 3,000 and leaving thousands missing. The coastal state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, was the hardest hit, with dozens of buildings reduced to rubble and the highest death toll. Venezuela's main international airport, located in the region, remained closed, complicating the arrival of international aid. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck Wednesday were the strongest recorded in the South American country in more than a century. As rescue efforts stretched into a third day, frustrated residents of La Guaira said they had been forced to dig through the rubble themselves while waiting for heavy equipment to arrive. In the Playa Los Cocos neighborhood, Nazareth Jimenez sobbed into the shoulder of a loved one as she watched neighbors try to cut through slabs of concrete with power tools in a building reduced to a mountain of debris. “My God, how are we going to get them out of there?" she murmured. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...