Search and rescue team boards flight from Panama City to Venezuelapublished at 14:40 BST
Orla Guerin
Reporting from an aid flight to Venezuela
We are on board a commercial flight set take off from Panama City for Valencia in Venezuela.
Search and rescue workers streamed on to the plane, some wearing their white helmets, all in high visibility jackets, most loaded with backpacks.
A sniffer dog has also come on board. There’s just been a round of applause for all the search teams and for the airline - COPA - which is transporting them and their equipment free.
One of the passengers is a Venezuelan from La Guaira, the worst affected area. He is rushing home to try to support relatives and friends. He looks exhausted and says he has suffered heavy losses, including four family members, a cousin, and many friends.
There are teams on this flight are from Spain, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador and Panama.
One experienced paramedic tells us he believes survivors can still be found.
Steven Salazar Vasquez is part of a small team of specialists including doctors. He tells us that after 72 hours the chance of finding people alive under the rubble falls rapidly, but he "still has hope" because there are many tall structures that have only partially collapsed.
He says there may be some buildings where collapsed walls have created a viable space, which rescue workers call "the triangle of life".



















