Venezuela death toll tops 1,400 with rising soccer stars found in rubble

Rescue workers from around the world battled aftershocks in Venezuela, as the desperate search for survivors of the catastrophic twin earthquakes entered its fourth day and the death toll climbed to over 1,400.Tens of thousands were also still unaccounted for after back-to-back temblors, which reached magnitude-7.2 and 7.5, rocked the nation on Wednesday, according to National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, CNN reported.Three of the victims were identified as young soccer players including one rising star who had hopes of playing for the national team.Yimvert Berroteran, 18, was confirmed dead by the Venezuelan Football Federation on Friday.“Venezuelan football bids a heart-wrenching farewell to a young man who represented our country’s colors with pride, commitment and love,” the organization wrote in a tribute.Berroteran played for Venezuela’s Under-20 team and was featured at forward in the 2025 Under-17 World Cup for the Land of Grace.Two more young soccer players, 14-year old Victor Palacios and Razan Sijaa, who played on the U-18 Caracas FC team, were also killed by the fallout of the earthquakes, according to the Venezuelan Football Federation.Earthquake aftershocks were felt around the country on Saturday, complicating rescue efforts. “There have been rolling tremors every time we’re on a phone with my team down there,” Loyce Pace, the Red Cross’ director for the Americas, told CNN.“It’s pretty constant and quite scary.It means that our teams have to be quite careful going into these communities to further assess the damage or deliver these services,” said Pace.“People want to get back home, they want to feel safe again and yet there’s some insecurity to their infrastructure, these buildings that are literally falling down so we have to be quite careful in the weeks ahead,” she said.Aid to Venezuela is flying in from around the world with help abetted by the reopening of one of the runways at Simon Bolivar International Air...