Venezuela twin quake deaths reach 2,954 as rescue teams scale back operations

CARACAS, Venezuela — Government figures released on Saturday put the number of people killed by two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela at 2,954. The updated count is more than 300 above Friday's total, as authorities continue to measure the full impact of the June 24 disaster.

The back-to-back tremors, recorded at magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, rank among the deadliest seismic events Latin America has seen in recent years. Officials say injuries have passed 16,000, thousands remain unaccounted for, and more than 16,000 people have been left without shelter. Around 190 buildings were brought down, with the heaviest damage reported in La Guaira, the coastal district north of the capital.

Ten days after the shocks, search-and-rescue crews are beginning to close out operations aimed at finding survivors. In most earthquake responses, the period when live rescues are realistically possible ends within about 72 hours, though workers did manage to pull a small number of people from collapsed structures alive during the past week. For many families, attention has now shifted to retrieving the bodies of relatives from the debris.