The death toll from Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has climbed to nearly 1,500 as rescue teams continue searching for survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings, with authorities warning that time is running out.

The powerful magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck on Wednesday, devastating the coastal state of La Guaira, about 40 kilometres north of Caracas. Officials say the disaster has left more than 3,100 people injured, displaced over 12,700 residents and destroyed at least 774 buildings.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said rescue operations would continue after emergency crews recovered additional survivors on Sunday.

“Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing. Today we have recovered people alive, and therefore operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope,” she said.

Rodríguez also announced the formation of a presidential commission to assess the structural safety of damaged buildings, extended the suspension of school classes for another week and said electricity had been restored to around 75 percent of La Guaira.

More than 2,600 international rescue workers have joined Venezuelan emergency teams, searching through mountains of rubble with the help of specialised equipment and rescue dogs. Several survivors, including children, have been pulled alive from collapsed buildings in recent days.

Among the latest rescues were an infant freed by US rescue personnel, an 11-year-old boy rescued by Colombian teams after being trapped three metres beneath rubble, and another 11-year-old saved by Mexican crews. Officials say such rescues are becoming increasingly rare as the critical 72-hour survival window passes.

Swiss rescue team leader Sebastian Eugster said the chances of finding survivors decrease significantly after the first three days.

“There exists a window of roughly 72 hours where the probability of rescuing people alive is much higher,” he said.

Authorities say nearly 50,000 people remain unaccounted for, although that figure is based largely on reports submitted through an opposition-backed missing persons website and has not been independently verified.

The United States Geological Survey has warned the final death toll could exceed 10,000, potentially making the disaster one of the deadliest earthquakes in Latin America in the past century.

The catastrophe has also disrupted the country’s energy sector. Venezuela’s largest oil refinery, the 645,000-barrel-per-day Amuay refinery, suspended operations following a major power outage in western Falcón state.

International aid continues to arrive, with the United States expected to announce an additional humanitarian assistance package worth hundreds of millions of dollars, on top of the $150 million already pledged.

The earthquakes have struck Venezuela at a time of ongoing political and economic instability, further complicating relief efforts as authorities, volunteers and international rescue teams continue the search for survivors.

A helicopter belonging to Saudi ​oil giant Aramco crashed on Sunday ‌in Ras Tanura on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast on the Gulf, west of the Strait of ​Hormuz, killing 14 nationals, the state ​news agency reported, adding that the ⁠cause was unknown.

Aramco had resumed crude oil loadings ​on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal ​in the Gulf after they were halted for nearly four months, Reuters reported.

“The relevant authorities have launched a ​full investigation to determine the cause ​of the crash,” the state news agency added.

Aramco did ‌not ⁠respond immediately to an emailed request for comment.

The incident took place at 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), the state agency ​said, without providing ​further ⁠details.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has joined a rush ​to move cargoes after Middle ​East ⁠producers ramped up oil and gas output and exports ahead of an interim deal ⁠to ​halt the war between the ​United States and Iran.

Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement in Washington on Friday following several days of talks to secure an end to fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollahmilitants, though ‌both sides framed the deal as an initial step, Reuters reported.

Lebanese Ambassador Nada Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter signed the trilateral document with the U.S. at the State Department in Washington, providing few details.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement allows Israeli forces to continue to occupy southern Lebanon if Hezbollah does not disarm.

“Today we’ve taken the first step in what will be a difficult journey, without a doubt, but an important and an essential ​and a necessary one,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said before the agreement was inked.

In a later statement he said that the U.S. would facilitate the implementation of ​the deal through a trilateral “Military Coordination Group for Lebanon” and that Washington would commit significant resources, including an immediate $100 million in humanitarian assistance in ⁠coordination with the U.N.

Rubio added that the U.S. reaffirmed its intent to improve the capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces “to more effectively establish sovereignty throughout Lebanese territory” with more than $30 million in funds ​under existing U.S. authorities and appropriations.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah broke out when the armed group fired at Israel on March 2, days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. The Hezbollah ​attacks triggered Israeli air and ground attacks that have killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million.

Lebanon’s Moawad also called it a “first step” on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty.

“Iran is out, Hezbollah is out, and the road to peace between Israel and Lebanon is in,” Leiter said.

Netanyahu said in a statement that the deal would also allow the Lebanese army “to begin organizing to take control of territory,” starting with ​what he described as two “pilot zones” from which Israeli troops would withdraw from land they occupied during the war.

Israel describes that territory as a “security zone” or “buffer zone” where its troops can thwart ​Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the agreement should allow Lebanese to return to “fully liberated” land and rebuilt homes with “no partner” in its sovereignty.

Israel’s death toll from this round of hostilities with Hezbollah ‌includes at least ⁠32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians. Hezbollah does not release figures on its war dead. Reuters reported on May 4 that several thousand Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the war.

A State Department official told Reuters on Thursday that Israel had agreed to pull back from some of the territory it has occupied, something Israeli and Lebanese officials denied.

Before the talks resumed this week, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to halt fire even as Israel kept troops in southern Lebanon.

Violence has persisted since the ceasefire, with Israel saying on Friday its troops had struck and killed what the military described as seven ​Hezbollah members who were operating near the territory ​it is occupying. Reuters could not confirm ⁠this.

“To the degree that the Lebanese army performs in dismantling and disarming Hezbollah, we will proceed with additional pilot zones and the ultimate determination of an internationally recognized, secure, and agreed upon border,” Leiter told reporters after the signing.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Lebanese authorities would not be ​able to enforce the agreement unless, with U.S. support, “they go to civil war,” pro-Iranian broadcaster Al Mayadeen reported, read the report.

Hezbollah would confront any measure taken ​by Lebanese authorities and ⁠would hold on to its weapons even more, adding that the group’s opposition was “serious” and would not allow authorities to implement their commitments on the ground, Fadlallah said.

Israeli forces dropped leaflets over the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri on Friday ordering residents to leave, Lebanese state media reported, the first such order issued since the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.

A senior Lebanese military ⁠official said Israel ​had recently added Mansouri to its occupation zone. The official said Lebanese farmers had continued to enter and leave ​the town, but had not been living there.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the military issued what it described as a “reminder” to the civilian population that “the area is within the security zone in which (Israeli) soldiers operate. It’s a reminder not to be ​in the area so they won’t be harmed.”