Francisco Bastardo was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz when his 9-year-old son Fabio told him in a video call that the earth was going to shake. Seconds later, the signal cut out. Since then, the boy and his mother, Kiriaki Navarro, have been trapped in the Taihiti building, in Caraballeda, Venezuela, which collapsed in the double earthquake on June 24.
Bastardo arrived in the country on Sunday and has not moved from there. He stands watch alongside the rescuers using drones, dogs, and ground-penetrating radar, although this Friday they confirmed what he feared most: there are no signs of life. Even so, he holds on to something he does not need technical proof to believe. “I have not seen an actual body, but I feel it in my body that Fabio is still alive”, he says.
The boy’s grandmother says that on Sunday she heard a whistle, and that this Friday there were knocks from inside. The building has new cracks and is shifting, the teams say. But for a father waiting outside, no report carries as much weight as the certainty that his son still responds when he calls to him.