Ecuador Earthquake: Anguish and impotence for the missing people

Their relatives searched for them in the rubble, in cemeteries, in places where the bodies were piled up, but they did not appear. Their absence exacerbated the emotional situation of families affected by the earthquake in Manabi.

Since the quake was recorded on April 16, Carlos Briones, 55, has not yet found his wife and one of his two daughters, aged 11. Yesterday he returned to the place where he thinks they are. He expects they are alive, in an air space under the rubble of the Stephany Hotel.

That was a three-storey building overlooking the sea and whose structure collapsed, as most of those located in the location by the seaside boardwalk.

“It is not possible, more than a day has passed and nobody knows anything about my wife and my daughter!” He shouted yesterday to a group of policemen, who at 07:30 retook the rescue work at the site.