A newborn baby and his mother were found alive under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquake last week in Venezuela.
A video shared by The Associated Press shows rescue workers surrounding an 18-day-old baby named Juan David, who is wearing only a diaper and wrapped in a striped blanket. He and his mother, Dayana Patino, were rescued after spending 32 hours under the rubble in Venezuela’s coastal region of La Guaira.
Speaking to the BBC, Dayana said her newborn son, Juan David, gave her the strength to keep fighting for survival while they were trapped. “As long as he was alive, I was going to be alive. Every now and then I was touching his nose for proof that he was still breathing,” she said.
Dayana recalled the terrifying moments after the earthquake. She said she was washing dishes in her eighth-floor apartment when the earthquake struck. Thinking it was only a small tremor, she immediately picked up her baby. Moments later, the building collapsed.
“I felt like I was flying,” she told the BBC. “Then I felt like I was sinking into dirt and debris. I fell into a hole and got trapped.”
At first, she said she screamed for help but soon realised that no one could hear her. “I said to myself I’m not going to waste my energy – I’m going to scream when it’s needed, when I hear voices or steps nearby,” she said. Dayana said her left leg was pinned under a concrete slab, and her head was pressed against a rock, making it impossible to move.
While trapped, Dayana said she found a Bible beneath her, which gave her hope and strength to keep fighting for survival.
When she heard her brother calling her name she said, “I said to myself, this is my only chance. From the top of my lungs I cried out… I screamed ‘Here I am.'” Her brother heard her and replied, “I found you, and I promise I won’t leave until I get you out.”
Her husband, Gerson, said seeing his wife and son alive felt like a miracle. “When I saw my son, I felt like I was born again. I couldn’t believe it,” he told the BBC. “It was indescribable. I thought they were dead. And when I saw my son, I felt like I was born again. I couldn’t believe it… I felt the life come back to me,” he added.
Dayana suffered injuries to both of her legs in the earthquake, but her baby escaped with only minor injuries.
As of Tuesday, officials said at least 1,943 people had died, 10,571 were injured, and thousands were still missing after the twin earthquakes struck Venezuela last week, NBC reported. According to the UN, more than 5,000 people have been injured, and around 12,000 have been displaced.
