Caracas, Venezuela – A specialised team of British rescue dogs has been airlifted to the Venezuelan capital to assist in the search for survivors trapped beneath the debris of a collapsed apartment block. The operation, which entered its third day, has become a race against time as rescuers contend with unstable structures and dwindling hope for those still unaccounted for.
The six dogs, all trained in rubble detection by the UK’s International Search and Rescue team, arrived at Simón Bolívar International Airport aboard a Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules. Their deployment follows a formal request from the Venezuelan government, which has struggled to cope with the scale of the disaster. The building, a 14-storey residential tower in the affluent Altamira district, collapsed without warning on Tuesday evening, trapping an estimated 80 people. Official figures confirmed 23 fatalities and 47 rescued survivors, but authorities fear the death toll could rise significantly.
British Ambassador to Venezuela, James Thornton, described the canine unit as “a vital asset” in the delicate phase of the operation. “These dogs can detect human scent up to 20 feet below rubble. Their speed and accuracy are unparalleled,” he said in a statement. The team is working alongside Venezuelan civil protection personnel and firefighters from neighbouring Colombia.
The collapse has sparked a political row over building safety standards in the capital. Critics have pointed to a pattern of corruption and poor regulation in the construction industry, a charge the government of President Nicolás Maduro denies. Meanwhile, rescue efforts are hampered by difficult access to the site, with heavy machinery unable to operate on the precarious pile of concrete and steel. Workers are removing debris by hand, guided by sniffer dogs that have already located three survivors since arriving.
This is not the first time London has offered canine assistance in a humanitarian crisis. British rescue dogs were deployed to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, and more recently to the Beirut port explosion in 2020. The decision to send aid to Venezuela, a country with which the United Kingdom has strained diplomatic relations, reflects a pragmatic approach to disaster relief.
The clock is ticking. Search operations typically wind down after 72 hours, though survivors have been pulled from rubble as much as two weeks after collapse. For now, the only sound that punctuates the silence of the Caracas night is the bark of a dog signalling its find.
