CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — The United States (US) military repaired and reopened a key seaport in the hardest hit area of Venezuela on Monday, as the country began burying more than 1,700 victims of twin earthquakes that have left tens of thousands still missing.

Five days after powerful back-to-back quakes flattened entire neighbourhoods, the task of recovering the dead loomed large and hopes of finding survivors faded.

By the latest official count, some 1,700 are dead, and 5,000 are injured, with no governmental word on the number missing. Other estimates place these in the tens of thousands.