Mexico Extends Search For Quake Survivors

Mexican authorities on Friday extended a search for survivors of this week's devastating earthquake that killed nearly 300 people

MEXICO CITY, Sept 22, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2017 ) - Mexican authorities on Friday extended a search for survivors of this week's devastating earthquake that killed nearly 300 people, with foreign rescue teams helping as the window for finding anybody left alive was about to close.

That 72-hour-mark beyond which hope is all but extinguished was to expire later Friday, three days after Tuesday's 7.1 earthquake toppled dozens of buildings in Mexico City and nearby central states.

Anguished families watching and waiting at buildings that collapsed with their loved ones inside pleaded with authorities not to send in bulldozers while there is still hope people could be alive -- something the government vowed not to do.

"We know she's alive and we're not leaving until she leaves with us," said Olinca Gonzalez, 29, whose father's wife worked in a Mexico City building that was flattened by the quake.

Families were circulating fliers demanding "No heavy machinery." President Enrique Pena Nieto promised authorities were not giving up the search.

Although experts say the average survival time in such disasters is three days, depending on injuries, trapped survivors have been known to hang on for many days more. That was the case after a massive earthquake that devastated Mexico City in 1985, killing more than 10,000 people.

The 72-hour period will be up at 1:14 pm (1814 GMT) Friday. "The rescue and support effort in the buildings that collapsed is still on," Pena Nieto said during a visit to the state of Puebla, where the epicenter was. "We are not suspending it. We have to keep up the rescue effort to keep finding survivors in the rubble." - 'Keep the faith' -