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Desperation increases for relatives of missing after Mexico earthquake


And what many had clung to as the unlikely triumph of life over death was revealed to be a case of some high-profile misinformation: A top navy official announced there were no missing children at a collapsed Mexico City school where the purported plight of a girl trapped alive in the rubble had captivated people across the nation and abroad.



Relatives distraught

Still, frustration was growing as the rescue effort stretched into the third day.

Outside a collapsed office building in the trendy Roma Norte district, a list of those rescued was strung between two trees. Relatives of the missing compared it against their own list of those who were in the building when the quake struck - more than two dozen names - kept in a spiral notebook.

Maria del Carmen Fernandez's nephew, Ivan Colin Fernandez, 27, worked as an accountant in the seven-story building, which pancaked to the ground taking part of the building next door with it.



Mistaken reports

Since early Wednesday, the eyes of the nation had been focused on the Enrique Rebsamen school in southern Mexico City, where rescuers told reporters a girl, identified only as Frida Sofia, had signaled she was alive deep in the rubble by wiggling her fingers in response to rescuers' shouts.

The child became a symbol of hope amid a disaster that has shocked the country. But Thursday afternoon, Navy Assistant Secretary Enrique Sarmiento announced that while there were blood traces and other signs suggesting someone could be alive beneath the school, all its children had been accounted for.



"We want to emphasize that we have no knowledge about the report that emerged with the name of a girl," Sarmiento said. "We do not believe, we are sure, it was not a reality."

In the middle of a nearby avenue Thursday evening, about 50 people attended a special Mass including aggrieved families and rescuers from the school site. Sobs broke out when the priest spoke the names of the dead, as cars passed by in both directions.

The ceremony ended with the release of white balloons that floated up.

"My brave princess," one read, "we will always love you."