Sunday, January 17, 2010

Search crews still finding survivors of Haiti quake

Another person rescued Oh Haiti Volunteer

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Survivors still emerged from collapsed buildings in Haiti's devastated capital Sunday, nearly five days after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the impoverished island nation.

U.S. and Turkish rescuers plucked three people, including an American woman, from the rubble of a supermarket Sunday, and were continuing to search for more people in the ruins. The survivors had been living on the store's supply of food and water, rescuers said.

Elsewhere, a team from New York rescued a 55-year-old man from the remains of a four-story building after using a rescue camera to locate him. And an Israel Defense Forces team said Sunday it had rescued a Haitian government worker from the ruins of a customs office Saturday.

The rescues lent a sense of urgency to those still working to find signs of life among the collapsed buildings, who know that time is running out for those still alive. Nearly 30 international rescue teams continue to comb the disaster areas for more survivors.

While there has not been an official count, U.N. estimates of the number of casualties in the capital alone range from 100,000 to 150,000.

By Friday, 13,000 bodies had been recovered, said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet. Among the dead are 16 Americans, the State Department said Sunday.

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