Rescuers used heavy machinery and their bare hands on Friday in a race to save survivors of twin earthquakes in Venezuela that killed at least 235 people, hurt thousands and flattened scores of buildings. At the site of one of those flattened buildings, workers used sledgehammers to break the debris and called for "absolute silence"footage showed.

Desperate Venezuelans battled Thursday to rescue loved ones trapped alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings after two major earthquakes that killed at least 164 people.

Emergency crews and residents scrambled to save survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings in Venezuela Thursday after two powerful earthquakes killed...