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At least 20 children killed after quake reduces Mexico City school to rubble

Rescue teams look for people trapped in the rubble at the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school in Mexico City, in this still taken from Mexican TV.
Rescue teams look for people trapped in the rubble at the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school in Mexico City, in this still taken from Mexican TV. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

The earthquake striking Mexico City has claimed the lives of at least 20 children, when their private school collapsed, trapping them in the rubble.

President Enrique Peña Nieto announced the grim news on Tuesday night from the Enrique Rebsámen school, surrounded by desperate parents looking for their missing children. Peña Nieto put the death toll at 22 – 20 students and two teachers – while another 30 individuals were still missing.

Hundreds of soldiers, marines and federal police swarmed the scene, along with parents and bystanders who dug through the rubble in the hope of finding students and staff.

Two children were rescued, but hope faded as the day went on. The school served a student population ranging from the kindergarten to junior secondary levels.

“They are hauling out debris, material, trying to get through the rubble and rescue people,” Peña Nieto said on a video posted by his office to social media sites. He pleaded with the parents for silence, saying, “You have heard some voices in the time that I’ve been here.”

The school’s collapse showed the lethality of the magnitude 7.4 earthquake, which struck the Mexican capital at about 1.15pm. At least 220 people have so far been confirmed dead, according to Mexico’s interior ministry.

It hit on the anniversary of the devastating 1985 earthquake, which is thought to have killed 10,000 people. It also struck just two hours after an earthquake drill, in which schools and offices practice evacuations.

The tremors hit suddenly, however. Mexico City has a system for warning of earthquakes, which usually strike in southern states such as Chiapas and Oaxaca and take about 60 seconds to shake in the capital. The earthquake on Tuesday hit before the alarm sounded as the epicentre was located just to the south of Mexico City.

School has been cancelled throughout central Mexico as officials inspect classrooms and infrastructure.

Peña Nieto delivered a late-night address, confirming widespread damage. At least 40% of electricity customers in Mexico City and 60% of customers in Morelos state to the south – and closer to the epicentre – were still without service.