Three-year-old rescued and taken to hospital six days after Venezuela quake

2026, June 30

Venezuela

A rare piece of good news emerged from Venezuela's devastating earthquake disaster when a three-year-old boy, Klieber Moran, was rescued alive after spending six days trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed apartment building in La Guaira.

Rescuers from Jordan's international search-and-rescue team located the child using specialized camera equipment and spent around three hours carefully freeing him from the debris. After receiving first aid at the scene, he was taken to a hospital in Caracas for further treatment. Officials said his vital signs were stable following the rescue.

The rescue came six days after two powerful earthquakes—measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude and occurring less than a minute apart—struck northern Venezuela, causing widespread destruction. The disaster has:

Claimed more than 1,900 lives.

Injured over 10,000 people.

Damaged or destroyed nearly 59,000 buildings.

Left tens of thousands of people still unaccounted for, while hundreds of thousands require humanitarian assistance.

Surviving six days under collapsed concrete is exceptionally uncommon. Rescue experts generally regard the first 72 hours after a major earthquake as the period when finding survivors is most likely, making Klieber's rescue a remarkable and hopeful moment amid an otherwise catastrophic tragedy.