Colombian rescuers pulled a 32-year-old woman alive from the rubble of a collapsed building Tuesday, sparking cheers and applause as exhausted crews raced to find more survivors from the country's strongest earthquake in a century. Daniela Largo was carried from the wreckage wrapped in a blue blanket as rescuers embraced and relatives shouted out with joy. Soldiers, firefighters and volunteers continued to scour collapsed buildings across western Colombia after Monday's 7.4-magnitude quake. Authorities revised the death toll down to 216 after local officials in Cali corrected earlier figures. "We were losing hope and then we received a call," said her mother Sandra Milena Perez in Pereira. Perez said a local resident heard cries for help beneath the rubble and joined neighbours in removing debris before professional rescuers arrived. "Thanks to him, today we're happy," she said. "At home her 12-year-old son is waiting for her." In Pereira and in Cali, emergency crews used cranes, dogs and heavy machinery to search ruined buildings while volunteers formed human chains to clear debris by hand, hoping to reach people still trapped beneath collapsed structures.
Swathes of the Colombian city of Pereira lay in ruins after a major earthquake rocked the region, leaving at least 241 people dead and 1,670 others injured. © Luis Acosta, AFP
