World

Death toll in the Mexican earthquake rises to 286 as rescue efforts continue

A rescue dog is helped to recuperate by volunteers after he became exhausted during search and rescue operations at a building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Ciudad Jardin neighbourhood of Mexico City PICTURE: Eduardo Verdugo
A rescue dog is helped to recuperate by volunteers after he became exhausted during search and rescue operations at a building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Ciudad Jardin neighbourhood of Mexico City PICTURE: Eduardo Verdugo A rescue dog is helped to recuperate by volunteers after he became exhausted during search and rescue operations at a building felled by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, in the Ciudad Jardin neighbourhood of Mexico City PICTURE: Eduardo Verdugo

THE death toll from the Mexican earthquake has risen to 286 as rescue operations stretch into another day.

National Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente said 148 people are confirmed dead in Mexico City, and there were 73 deaths in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico state, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.

The update came as survivors were still being pulled from rubble in the capital, spurring hope among relatives gathered at the sites of buildings collapsed by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

Mexico's federal police said several people had been lifted out of the debris of two buildings on Thursday.

Rescuers removed or broke through slabs until they found cracks that allowed workers to wriggle through to reach the victims, then lift them to safety.

The city government said 60 people had been rescued since the quake hit at midday on Tuesday.

The time is nearing when rescuers will be replaced by bulldozers to clear the rubble, but officials insisted it is still a rescue operation.

Mr Puente acknowledged that diggers and bulldozers were starting to clear away some wrecked buildings where no one had been detected or where teetering piles of rubble threatened to collapse on neighbouring structures.

Those who saw the buildings collapse said the tragedy could have been much worse. Some buildings did not fall immediately, giving people time to escape, and some shattered but left air spaces where occupants survived.

From early on Wednesday, the nation was glued to the search for a girl apparently in the rubble of a school in southern Mexico City. Rescuers told reporters that a girl, identified only as Frida Sofia, had signalled she was alive deep in the rubble by wiggling her fingers.

Rescuers said they spoke with her, and the child became a symbol of hope, but no family members came forward to identify the girl, and officials said no girl by that name was registered at the school.

On Thursday afternoon, navy spokesman Enrique Sarmiento announced that while there were blood traces and other signs suggesting someone could be alive beneath the school, all its children had been accounted for.

"We have done an accounting with school officials and we are certain that all the children either died, unfortunately, are in hospitals or are safe at their homes," Mr Sarmiento said.

He said 11 children had been rescued and 19 had died, along with six adults.

"We want to emphasise that we have no knowledge about the report that emerged with the name of a girl," he added.

He said the only trace rescuers had were images from a camera lowered into the rubble that showed blood tracks where an injured person had apparently dragged himself or herself.

Mr Sarmiento said the only person still listed as missing was a school employee.