Miracle of the children saved from rubble of quake school
TWO children were yesterday pulled alive from the ruins of a three-storey school that collapsed during the Mexican earthquake. in a miraculous rescue, the youngsters – a boy and a girl – were found by volunteers and search teams cowering in a small gap near the front of the Enrique rebsamen school in Mexico City. Video showed a man reaching down and pulling a crying little girl out of the rubble with a small boy filmed being rescued moments later. At one point yesterday, there was hope for a 13-year- old girl and five other children trapped in the crushed concrete and twisted steel of the primary school, where 21 children and four adults have already been confirmed dead. But last night their fate was unclear as, amid the confusion of the rescue, a high ranking official said that there were no longer any missing children but that an adult may still be alive in the rubble. Desperate rescue workers spent yesterday trying to reach the girl – named as Frida Sofia – after her fingers were seen wiggling in the debris. First aiders managed to pass water through a hose in her direction as firemen and volunteers tried to find a path to her. Thermal imaging devices had suggested the little girl was trapped in an area where several more children might have survived under crushed floor slabs. At that point, Dr Alfredo Vega, working with the rescue team, said: ‘She is alive and she is telling us that there are five more children alive near her and in the same space.’ Some children trapped in the rubble had sentWhatsApp messages to tell their parents they are alive. One girl, Fatima, wrote: ‘i’m fine, i’m with four other trapped children, help us, we’re thirsty.’ But last night Angel Enrique Sarmiento, assistant secretary of the Navy, said that while there are blood traces and other signs suggesting that someone is alive, all of the school’s children have been accounted for. ‘We have done an accounting with school officials and we are certain that all the children either died, are in hospitals or are safe at their homes,’ he said. The death toll from the earthquake, which hit Mexico City and surrounding areas on Tuesday afternoon stands at 248, with around 2,000 injured. But scientists attached to the US Geological
‘Help us, we’re thirsty’
Survey have predicted that as many as 1,000 people may have lost their lives following the 7.1magnitude tremor. More than 50 survivors have been plucked from the rubble in Mexico City since the earthquake. Almost 4,000 police officers have joined firefighters, rescue teams and volunteers. A rescue dog who has saved more than 50 people during her career is also hard at work. Wearing goggles and tiny protective dog boots, Frida was trying to locate survivors. And last night it was reported that the labrador had saved another person, taking her rescue tally to 54. The tremor came 32 years to the day after Mexico’s worst earthquake, which killed 10,000. Eleven members of one family including a baby died during Tuesday’s earthquake as they attended the baby’s baptism in a church in the small town of Atzala, 120 miles south-west of Mexico City. The roof of the Santiago the Apostle Church collapsed during the service for two-month- old Elideth Torres de Leon. Only her father, the priest and his assistant survived.