Death Toll Put at 4,160 in Mexico : Rescuers Continue to Pull Survivors From Quake Debris

The official death toll from Mexico’s earthquakes rose to more than 4,000 today but rescue workers found survivors who had been buried alive for five days, including another newborn baby in a hospital incubator.

The government issued a new confirmed death figure of 4,160, but officials fully expect the toll to go higher. U.S. Ambassador John Gavin estimated last weekend that up to 10,000 people were killed.

Rescue workers continued to search for thousands of people believed trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed during the two major quakes, the first of which struck Thursday and the second on Friday night.

The extent of the devastation was just becoming clear.

7,000 Buildings Affected

Insurance companies making a preliminary assessment of the losses caused by the quakes said 7,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged in Mexico City, according to the respected El Universal newspaper.

The newspaper also said an estimated 1 million people were left unemployed and an estimated 350,000 were temporarily or permanently without housing.

Volunteer rescue workers probing the ruins of the 12-story Hospital Juarez found a newborn baby alive in an incubator.

The baby was identified as the son of Ines Cruz Soriano, whose whereabouts were unknown. The baby appeared to have been only one or two days old when the hospital crumbled on top of him, doctors estimated. The incubator apparently saved the child’s life.

Four Others Rescued

Two infants and a doctor were pulled alive from the same hospital Monday and another baby was rescued Monday from the Gynecological-Obstetrical Hospital in the government’s Medical Center complex.

A man and his wife were pulled alive from the rubble of their 13-story apartment building late Monday night. The apartment complex collapsed with 2,000 people in it. About 300 have so far been listed as survivors.

Despite objections from some volunteer rescue workers, authorities said they would wind down around-the-clock searches for survivors at some sites.

Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez flew to Mexico City today aboard an air force plane carrying 12 tons of medicine for earthquake victims. Authorities said the number of Spaniards killed in the quake had reached 50.

Appeal Made at U.N.

In New York, the 159-nation U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling on all countries to “contribute generously” to the relief and reconstruction effort in Mexico.

The League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva said 20 Western nations have contributed nearly $2.6 million in cash and supplies to the Red Cross for victims of Mexico’s earthquakes.

Mexican authorities estimated 500 people were still buried in the rubble of the Nuevo Leon high-rise apartment building in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. And at least 100 garment workers were unaccounted for in several factories south of the downtown area.