AT LEAST 248 DEAD, MANY MISSING AS 7.1 METRES EARTHQUAKE ROCKS MEXICO

MEXICO – Mexico City has been thrown into mourning, following the death of at least 248 people in an earthquake measuring 7.1 metres on the richter scale that hit the city on Tuesday.

The earthquake according to the military occured on the 32nd anniversary of the most devastating earthquake in the history of Mexico.

More than half of the dead were in Mexico City, civil defense agency said.
Not less than 44 buildings, including homes, schools and office buildings have been reduced to rubble, President Enrique Pena Nieto has said.

Among the dead are about 22 students at a collapsed primary school in the south of the city. Pena Nieto visited the school late Tuesday. He said those 22 bodies have been recovered, but that 30 children and eight adults are still missing.

Rescuers were still at work looking for survivors late Tuesday even as relatives said they had received Whatsapp messages from two girls believed to be under the rubble.

Residents say the tremors lasted for about six to seven minutes. “Once the shaking subsided, first responders swooped in to help the injured and a fleet of military and police helicopters buzzed overhead”, an eye witness said.