At least 27 Spaniards have died and 244 have been evacuated since the Venezuela earthquake

Eduardo González At least 27 Spanish citizens have died and 244 have been evacuated since the double earthquake that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, according to the latest figures provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The number of Spanish deaths has risen to 27, while 137 are missing and eleven have been located under the rubble, where rescue teams are focusing their efforts,” the sources indicated. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that all consular emergency lines, which can be found on the Ministry's and the Embassy's social media accounts in Caracas, are open, and Spaniards in Venezuela are urged to use them,” they continued. The Embassy in Venezuela and the Spanish Consulate in Caracas are operational for the Spanish community at the following telephone numbers: +34 91 000 1249 and +58 424-2090264. According to the same sources, an Iberia flight from Venezuela arrived in Madrid on Thursday carrying 96 Spaniards, 24 Venezuelans, and nationals of France (three), the Netherlands (one), Ireland (three), Portugal (three), and Romania (one). “With today’s flight, a total of 312 people have been evacuated to Spain, of whom 244 are Spanish and 68 are of twelve other nationalities,” they added. At least 1,943 people have died and around 50,000 remain missing as a result of the double earthquake measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale that struck northern Venezuela on Wednesday, forty seconds apart, according to the latest official figures. The damage is concentrated mainly in the states of La Guaira, Miranda, Aragua, Carabobo, Falcón, and Yaracuy, as well as Caracas, where buildings and infrastructure have been affected. A team from the START (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) field hospital, part of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), comprised of 44 volunteer healthcare professionals, logistics specialists, and cooks, departed this Wednesday from Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport to assist the earthquake victims. During the send-off ceremony, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that an additional shipment of Spanish aid worth €300,000 will be sent soon. According to the Ministry, in the first 24 hours after the earthquakes, AECID mobilized one million euros of urgent aid to Venezuela, channeled through the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan ambassador to Spain, Timoteo Zambrano, met this Wednesday with the State Secretary for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo, to discuss future aid for the most affected areas. During the meeting, Zambrano thanked him, “on behalf of the Republic and our fellow citizens, for all the cooperation of the Spanish Government in the days following the earthquakes of June 24,” as he wrote on the Embassy's Instagram account. [caption id="attachment_146800" align="alignnone" width="750"] Zambrano and Sumelzo. / Photo: Embassy[/caption]

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