Forensic expert challenges Venezuela's official quake death count

A week after twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela, questions continue to mount over the official death toll, with forensic experts, opposition figures, and rights groups suggesting the true number of victims may be significantly higher.

Authorities said on July 1 that at least 2,295 people had been killed in the back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes, an increase of about 300 from the previous day's count. However, a forensic pathologist working in the severely affected port city of La Guaira told CNN the official figure was "not even a third of what is actually there."

Speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation, the pathologist said the makeshift morgue where she works is processing around 400 bodies a day, many beyond recognition or in advanced stages of decomposition. Refrigerated trucks are reportedly full, forcing workers to leave body bags outside in the sun.

"La Guaira is indescribable," she said. "There are so many cases, so many families. The earthquakes hit the lower-income families the hardest – they are the most affected." She added that many relatives have been forced to recover victims from the rubble themselves because emergency services cannot keep pace. "They themselves bring their own dead, because civil protection, the firefighters, even the emergency services cannot keep up with rescuing those bodies," she said.

Initial estimates by the US Geological Survey indicated a high probability that the death toll could reach the tens of thousands. The Venezuelan government has not issued its own projection of the final number of fatalities.

"We are definitely looking at a number higher than the one already reported," said Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, the United Nations' coordinator for Venezuela.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado accused the government of downplaying the scale of the disaster, while rights group Provea said the official figures "raise more doubts than they provide answers," calling for "zero opacity" in the response.

However, Venezuela expert David Smilde urged caution, saying there is not yet sufficient evidence to conclude authorities are deliberately understating the death toll, noting that a higher figure could strengthen the country's case for additional international aid.

By Vafa Guliyeva