Toll in Mexico earthquake rises to 305

Mexico City Sep 24 (IANS) The toll from the devastating September 19 earthquake in Mexico has risen to 305 national Civil Protection Coordinator Luis Felipe Puente has said.

In an update of the number of deaths left by the magnitude 7 quake Puente on Saturday specified that Mexico City had 167 fatalities Morelos had 73 and Puebla 45 while there were 13 in Mexico State six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca Efe news reported. The number increased principally in Mexico City where it went from 154 to 167 in the last few hours whereas in the states of Morelos Puebla Mexico Guerrero and Oaxaca no change was registered in the number of victims. Puente confirmed in another message that the search and rescue work to save any survivors has been resumed after the Magnitude 6.1 temblor this Saturday. Saturday s seismic movement is one of the 4 287 aftershocks of the magnitude 8.2 earthquake on September 7 the most powerful since 1932 and whose epicentre was off the coast of the southern state of Chiapas. Puente said that because of protocol the work of digging through the rubble was suspended for a brief period of time in order to study the state of the structures after the new quake which caused the collapse of a bridge originally damaged in the September 7 temblor. --IANS pgh/