Buried under rubble for 32 hours, Venezuelan mother clung to hope and her baby

After enduring 32 hours beneath collapsed debris, Dayana Patino and her 18-day-old son were rescued alive. The Venezuelan mother says thoughts of her baby kept her fighting for survival as rescuers searched the rubble following the devastating twin earthquakes.

In Short

• Dayana Patino survived by holding her 18-day-old baby close
• Quake is Venezuela's worst in over a century, killing at least 1,450 people
• Rescue came when her brother heard her cries and saved both mother and child

Buried under the rubble for 32 hours, Venezuelan mother Dayana Patino never once thought her life had ended. She was determined to hold on. It was her 18-day-old baby, she said, who motivated her to "stay awake and alert" even as hope faded with each passing hour after twin earthquakes struck the Latin American country last Wednesday.

For Venezuela, which has seen its worst earthquake in over a century when at least 1,450 people have been killed, Patino's baby has emerged as a symbol of hope. As tens of thousands are still missing, the chances of their survival are fading by the hour.

For Patino, it was simple. It was the love for her newly born more than the love for life that kept her going for even more than a day without food, water and air.

Speaking to the BBC from a clinic in the capital, Caracas, on Sunday, Patino described the 32 hours she spent trapped beneath the rubble, holding her baby close and praying that both would be saved.

"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.

Patino recalled that she was washing dishes in her eighth-floor apartment in La Guaira, on Venezuela's northern coast, when the earthquakes struck. She said she immediately rushed to hold her son, believing it would be "only a light tremor." Instead, the building collapsed around her.

"I felt like I was flying. After that, I felt like I was sinking in water and dirt, and then I fell into the pit where I remained. I don't know how I didn't let go of my baby because I was flying. I got crushed against furniture," she told the BBC.

She said she initially screamed for help but quickly realised 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 footsteps nearby,'" she said.

Patino added that her left leg was trapped beneath concrete and she could not move, while her temple was pressed against a rock.

She said she then found a Bible beneath her, marking the beginning of what she called her "journey of survival."

In the darkness, she recalled seeing a "pinprick of light that looked like the moon."

Her chance of rescue finally came when she heard her brother calling her name.

"I said to myself, 'This is my only chance.' From the top of my lungs, I screamed, 'Here I am,' with all my might. He said, 'I found you, and I promise I won't leave until I get you out.'"

A delicate rescue operation followed, and both mother and child were pulled from the rubble on Thursday night.

Patino suffered injuries to both legs, while her 18-day-old son escaped with minor injuries. Their home and belongings were destroyed, and the family's pet dog remains missing. But for Patino, her husband and the rest of the family, the survival of both mother and child was nothing short of a miracle -- and a source of renewed hope as they prepare to "begin from scratch."

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