The number of confirmed dead left in the wake of powerful twin earthquakes that ravaged Venezuela earlier this week surged to more than 900 yesterday.

Venezuelan officials confirmed mass injuries and vast infrastructural damage across the country’s coastal and northern regions from the quakes that have left 51,000 missing and thousands more injured and without homes.

As he appeared on TV yesterday, National Assembly Leader Jorge Rodriguez told the Venezue­lan public that although initial reports had counted slightly more than 30 deaths after the devastating 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes, the official death toll yesterday afternoon had climbed to 920.