A two-year-old boy pulled from the rubble of his home six days after a devastating double earthquake has been reunited with his aunt, who told the BBC she would care for him “with a mother’s warmth” until his missing parents are found.
Kleiber Moran was rescued by Jordanian rescuers early on Tuesday in Venezuela’s northern La Guaira state. His aunt, 23-year-old Andreína Sarmiento, said she fell to the floor and wept when a friend phoned with the news, then rushed to meet him. “I’m praying a lot to God to give me strength because he is only two years old and I am not a mother,” she told the BBC, sitting at his bedside in a Caracas hospital, holding his hand. “It hurts me a lot because my sister always used to tell me that he is my son, and now it’s like she’s handing him over to me”.
“Toddler Kleiber Moran rescued after six days under rubble in Venezuela; aunt vows motherly care as parents remain missing.”
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, described the rescue as a “source of hope for our people” as the official death toll from two major earthquakes last Wednesday passed 1,700, with thousands still missing. The boy’s parents, Ana Luz, 31, and Carlos, remain unaccounted for. Andreína said UK rescuers had also tried to reach Kleiber before the Jordanian team succeeded.
When the pair were reunited, Kleiber looked at Andreína and immediately said “she Auntie”. He arrived at the hospital in a “state of shock, screaming and screaming”, but slept through the night and by Wednesday “had stabilised”. “Today he’s giving me little kisses, he talks to me, he tells me where it hurts,” she said, her face breaking into a broad smile. “He doesn’t even have a single fracture. All he has are some scratches here on his arms and on his legs, but nothing more.”
Kleiber lay wrapped in a Spiderman blanket, surrounded by toys, pushing a small car around the bed in a ward shared with other child survivors. But amid the relief, Andreína’s thoughts were with her sister. “It hurts because I can’t find my sister,” she said. She and Ana Luz, 31, were extremely close. “My sister always used to tell me that he is my son, and now it’s like she’s handing him over to me and saying ‘this is your son, he is your responsibility’.”