Colombia quake death toll tops 250 as rescuers race to find survivors

PEREIRA/CALI, Colombia — Rescue crews on Tuesday dug through mountains of rubble in western Colombia, shouting for quiet so they could listen for survivors still trapped under the buildings that collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people.

The 7.4-magnitude quake, the most devastating to strike Colombia this century, tore through its coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened.

Separate reports from affected cities put the death toll at 254 on Tuesday morning, with 101 people killed in Pereira, deep in coffee country, and 95 in Cali, the country's third-biggest city.

Crowds cheered as rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble and she was taken away on a stretcher.

Cali's public health secretary German Escobar said the city's morgue was now full and authorities were bringing more bodies off the streets.