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WORLD NEWS Thursday 21 sepTember 2017

Mexico quake rescuers race to free girl, other survivors

By CHRIS SHERMAN he could. Asked if that pulling debris aside to try stop.” Among them were the collapse, the debris
PETER ORSI made him optimistic, he to reach the living and the 11 people rescued at the being removed from the
MARK STEVENSON said, “I hope so.” dead. Enrique Rebsamen school, school began to change
Associated Press as crews worked their way
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The inside: From huge chunks
wiggling fingers of a young of brick and concrete,
girl trapped in the rubble to pieces of wood that
of her collapsed school in looked like remnants of
Mexico City raised hopes desks and paneling, to a
among hundreds of res- final load that contained
cuers working furiously a half-dozen sparkly hula-
Wednesday to try to free hoops.
her — a drama that played Volunteer rescue worker
out at dozens of buildings Dr. Pedro Serrano man-
toppled by the powerful aged to crawl into the
earthquake that killed at crevices of the tottering
least 223 people. pile of rubble and make it
But it was the ongoing res- to a classroom, where he
cue at the Enrique Rebsa- found no survivors.
men school, where 25 peo- “We saw some chairs
ple including 21 children and wooden tables. The
perished, that was seen as next thing we saw was a
emblematic of Mexicans’ leg, and then we started
rush to save survivors be- to move rubble and we
fore time runs out. found a girl and two adults
Helmeted workers spotted — a woman and a man,”
the girl buried in the de- Rescue workers search for children trapped inside the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school in he said. All were dead.
bris early Wednesday and Mexico City, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The earthquake stunned central Mexico, killing more than “We can hear small nois-
100 people as buildings collapsed in plumes of dust.
shouted to her to move her (AP Photo/Carlos Cisneros) es, but we don’t know if
hand if she could hear. She they’re coming from ... the
did, and a rescue dog was It was part of similar ef- By mid-afternoon, 52 peo- where three people re- walls above, or someone
sent inside to confirm she forts at the scenes of doz- ple had been pulled out mained missing, two chil- below calling for help,”
was alive. ens of collapsed buildings, alive since Tuesday’s mag- dren and an adult. Earlier, Serrano said.
Hours later the crews were where firefighters, police, nitude 7.1 quake, Mexico journalists saw rescuers pull A helicopter overflight of
still laboring to free her, as soldiers and civilians wore City’s Social Development two small bodies from the some of the worst-hit build-
images of the rescue ef- themselves out hammer- Department said, add- rubble, covered in sheets. ings revealed the extent of
fort were broadcast on TV ing, shoveling, pushing and ing in a tweet: “We won’t More than 24 hours after Continued on Page 27
screens nationwide. Work-
mets used ropes, pry-bars Philippine troops kill 9 rebels in village clash
ers in neon vests and hel-

and other tools, frequently
calling on the anxious par- MANILA, Philippines (AP) said recently he was open am not averse to the idea, Troops are searching for
ents and others gathered — Philippine troops killed to resuming the peace but let me sort out first the the militiaman, Jonathan
around to be silent while nine communist guerrillas in talks but had to consult the other branches of govern- Manlabao, and his cap-
they listened for any other a clash in a northern prov- military and police, along ment,” Duterte said. tors, the military said.
voices from beneath the ince on Wednesday and with lawmakers and the ju- Duterte has demanded The government is de-
school. a government militiaman diciary. He has suspended that a cease-fire be in manding that the rebels
At one point, the workers was abducted by rebels the talks a number of times place while talks are held. “desist from extortion, de-
lowered a sensitive micro- in the latest flare-ups in the due to continuing attacks The nine rebels were killed sist from killing soldiers, es-
phone inside the rubble decades-long insurgency, by the guerrillas on govern- during a two-hour gunbat- pecially those that are not
to scan for any noise or military officials said. ment forces and rebel ex- tle that also wounded a in combat operation,” Are-
movement. A rescuer said Military spokesman Col. tortion of mining and agri- soldier in northern Carrang- valo said.
they thought they had Edgard Arevalo said the cultural companies. lan town in Nueva Ecija The communist rebellion in
located someone, but it violence involving New Duterte’s latest change province, regional military the Philippines has raged
wasn’t clear who. People’s Army guerrillas of heart came over the spokesman Lt. Col. Isagani for 48 years, making it one
“It would appear they are would not help the possible weekend after meeting Nato said.On Monday, sus- of Asia’s longest. Founded
continuing to find chil- resumption of peace talks, a police officer who was pected rebels abducted in 1968, the rural-based
dren,” said Carlos Licona, which have been suspend- freed by the guerrillas fol- the militiaman while he was guerrilla group has tried
a burly sledge-hammer ed for about two months lowing weeks of captivity in having dinner in his house unsuccessfully to negotiate
wielding volunteer who due to sporadic clashes. the country’s south. “If you in Occidental Mindoro with five Philippine presi-
came to help in any way President Rodrigo Duterte want to resume the talks, I province, south of Manila. dents before Duterte. q