School collapses in Mexico earthquake killing at least 25 'as survivors text from beneath the rubble'

At least 21 children and four adults have died after a
school collapsed when a powerful earthquake hit
Mexico.
Hundreds of emergency workers and volunteers are
digging through the rubble in a desperate bid to find
survivors at Enrique Rebsamen, a four-storey school
for primary and secondary pupils.
The government said at least another 30 students and
eight teachers are unaccounted for.
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A heartbreaking message shared widely on social
media suggested some are still trapped in the
wreckage and are texting friends for help.
It read: "Fatima Navarro has been found at the
school.
"She's writing from beneath the rubble.
"They can't locate her even though she's still alive"
There were reports that Fatima may have since been
found and transported to a nearby hospital, but this
has not been confirmed.
President Enrique Peña Nieto said 500 members of
the army and 200 from civil protection were working
at the school site.
It was among dozens of buildings flattened when the
the 7.1 magnitude quake tore through the capital
Mexico City on Tuesday.
Reporter Julio Ibanez tweeted footage of volunteers
holding up handwritten signs with the names of
children pulled from the wreckage.
"Please RT so that their parents known they've been
found," he added.
One woman took to Facebook to appeal for help
locating her missing nephew while another man stood
in the street with names of children on a handmade
sign.
A post being widely shared on social media reads:
"Friends who are the south of Mexico City your help
is needed, please!
"There are children beneath the rubble at the Enrique
Rebsamen school."
"If anyone is nearby please help!
"Share with as many people as possible - there are
desperate families!"
The earthquake hit on on the anniversary of a
devastating tremor in 1985 which left thousands dead.
The death toll so far is believed to be at least 149.
The head of Mexico's civil defence agency, Luis
Felipe Puente, said 55 people died in Morelos state,
just south of the capital, while 49 died in Mexico City
and 32 died in Puebla state, the location of the
earthquake's epicentre.
Ten people died in Mexico State, which surrounds the
capital, and three in Guerrero state.
The count did not include one death reported by
officials in Oaxaca state.
The quake sent panicked office workers streaming
into the streets as skyscrapers swayed and bridges
collapsed at around 1.15pm local time.
Hospital staff evacuated wards across the city,
shading babies in incubators under trees as horrified
patients watched brick walls crumble around them.
Thousands of people hugged to calm one another
other along the central Reforma Avenue as alarms
blared and traffic stopped around the Angel of
Independence monument.
In the Roma neighbourhood, which was struck hard by
the 1985 quake, piles of stucco and brick fallen from
building facades littered the streets.
At a nearby market, a worker in a hardhat walked
around the outside warning people not to smoke as a
smell of gas filled the air.
Market trader Edith Lopez, 25, was in a taxi a few
blocks away when the quake struck.
She said she saw glass bursting out of building
windows and was anxiously trying to locate her
children, who she had left in the care of her disabled
mother.

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