Quake deaths toll up to 96

TABASCO: The official toll after Mexico’s 8.1 magnitude earthquake has risen to 96 as more deaths were confirmed in the hard-hit southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

The Foreign Relations Department said 95 people had died nationwide in Thursday’s quake, and Chiapas state civil defence director Luis Manuel Garcia Moreno said later the number of deaths there had risen from 15 to 16.

Oaxaca governor Alejandro Murat told the Milenio television network the death toll in his state alone had risen to 76. Officials have reported four people died in the

Gulf coast state of Tabasco.

About 5,000 homes in Chiapas were completely destroyed.