Mexico Quake Rescue Effort Yields Rumors but Little Progress

Rumors outstripped progress Friday as desperate efforts continued to reach a 9-year-old boy believed trapped alive in the debris of Mexico City’s earthquake.

Rescuers tunneling into the loose mound of mortar and smashed concrete claimed to have heard the boy, Luis Ramon Nafarrate, “making noise” in a pocket of his grandfather’s apartment where he was buried 15 days ago.

“According to the experience of the rescuers, there is life there,” said police Col. J.D. Ramirez, who is in charge of the rescue operation.

That announcement was not much different from the reports that have emerged from the downtown Mexico City site during the past three days of round-the-clock search efforts.

Ramirez declined to estimate how long it might take to reach the boy.

The rescue has attracted great attention in Mexico in part because of the dramatic possibility that someone might be found alive after spending more than two weeks under tons of rubble. There have been no other reports of survivors since last Saturday.

Parents’ Hopes Rise, Fall

Optimistic and unsubstantiated stories about contact with Luis Ramon have alternately raised and dashed the hopes of his parents.

“My mind’s a blank,” said Sonia Maldonado, Luis Ramon’s mother.

“They say there are signs of life,” said his father, Mauricio Nafarrate, who has clawed through the debris with other rescue workers. “Whoever is there alive, he is my son now.”

Young Luis Ramon was trapped along with his grandfather, Luis Maldonado, when part of an eight-story building adjacent to the grandfather’s apartment house collapsed on the courtyard apartment.

Rescuers and family members say that Luis Ramon has answered shouted questions about whether he is alive by tapping on pipe or concrete. They assume that the grandfather is dead or unconscious.

For 10 days after the quake hit, the family tried to dig the victims out themselves, while begging rescue teams to join the search. After several false starts, rescuers began a full-scale effort Monday.

On Friday, one especially vivid rumor ignited great hope.

Speech Report Denied

A rescue worker emerged at 11 a.m. and, with hands upraised, announced that the boy had spoken. At the announcement, Mauricio Nafarrate wept with joy and hugged his own father, Ramon Nafarrate, who was also keeping vigil at the site.

Later, policeman Ramirez knocked down the rumor, saying the rescuers had not heard the boy speak, but it is not clear what the family has been told. Later reports of more tapping sounds also were unconfirmed.

Mexican rescue teams made up of miners, Red Cross workers and other volunteers were joined early Friday by 25 firemen from Algeria.

Early in the day, they scraped away at two tunnels they hoped would lead them to a corner of the building where they believed the boy was trapped. Later, the digging was reduced to one tunnel.

The rescue has been set back repeatedly as loose rubble has tumbled into the narrow tunnels. Despite the reports of sounds within the debris, rescuers are not sure of the boy’s exact location.

Despite signs that a survivor might be reached soon, the work dragged on until late afternoon.

Occasionally, the crush of reporters and spectators on Carranza Street created something of a circus atmosphere. Representatives of the U.S. television networks badgered police for access to the courtyard where workers toiled to extend the tunnel.