Mexico Earthquake Latest News: Death Toll Rises as Rescue Crews Work Overnight
Rescue efforts continue all throughout Tuesday night as the death toll of a major earthquake rose to at least 226 dead. Emergency crews work side by side with citizens of the worse-hit cities in central Mexico to search for survivors.
A powerful quake turned buildings in Mexico to rubble, destroying facilities and starting fires in major cities in the country's capital, as well as neighboring cities close to the epicenter. Shocks of up to magnitude 7.1 were measured on the anniversary of the 1985 quake, another massive tremor that resulted in thousands dead, according to Reuters.
Mexico City's emergency crews now desperately pick through rubble to get to any survivors trapped in any of the 44 buildings that collapsed in the quake. Among these toppled structures were primary schools, with more than 20 children and two adults found dead in the ruins of Colegio Enrique Rebsámen in Coapa.
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A successful rescue has been reported at the same school just yesterday, as reported by The Guardian. Two children were reportedly pulled out from the rubble that remains of the school, according to authorities.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said that another 20 children and 12 adults were unaccounted for, late Tuesday before the reported rescue.
The massive earthquake hit mainland Mexico on Tuesday, Sep. 19. Its epicenter was found about 75 miles southeast of the country's capital.
As of Wednesday, Sep. 20, 52 people have been confirmed rescued in Mexico City alone from the count of city officials, according to ABC News. The highest toll by late Tuesday was in Morelos State, with 55 people confirmed dead by late Tuesday, according to civil defense chief Luis Felipe Puente.
The toll in Mexico City has reached 49 people killed by that time, while another 13 dead were reported in neighboring Guerrero. Another 32 were confirmed killed in Puebla, where the quake's center was determined by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Rescue work carries on in the dark in some areas,with 4.6 million homes and facilities without power after the quake, according to the national power company.
U.S. President Donald Trump reached out to the quake victims by social media on the same day.
