Colombia Quake Toll Hits 265 as Rescuers Pull Woman From Rubble After 36 Hours, Nearly 4,100 Still Missing on Civilian Lists

Since Colombia's 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, August 10, the confirmed death toll has climbed to 265 as of Wednesday evening, according to President Abelardo de la Espriella. That's up from the 216 figure reported Tuesday and the 180 reported Monday night.

The number that hasn't budged toward clarity is the missing count. De la Espriella told reporters in Bogotá that nearly 500 people remain unaccounted for. But civilian-run databases, according to CBS News, put that number above 4,100. That represents a significant gap between the government's figure and what independent trackers are logging, and as of Wednesday no official has explained the discrepancy.

More than 25,800 families have been affected by the quake, de la Espriella said. "Our efforts are focused on the disappeared," he told journalists Wednesday.

A rescue that took 10 hours

Good news came out of Pereira, in Colombia's coffee-growing region. Firefighters pulled 32-year-old Daniela Largo alive from beneath four concrete slabs late Tuesday, ending a rescue effort that BBC News reported took roughly 10 hours once crews located her, after she'd been trapped for a total of about 36 hours.

A local resident heard Largo crying for help, according to her mother, who spoke to AFP. Rescuers used a small camera to pinpoint her location, then dug two separate tunnels, one from above to deliver oxygen and another from below to physically free her.

CBS News reported that crews carved a small opening to free her pinned arm and that a doctor administered IV fluids on site to stabilize her before she was carried out wrapped in a blue blanket. Firefighters embraced and onlookers cheered as she was loaded into an ambulance.

Craig De Meillon, a search-and-rescue volunteer from Miami who took part in the effort, described the scene to CBS News: "It was kind of like a football moment, when everyone is like shaking hands, like, 'Yes, yes!'"

Largo's mother told AFP that Largo's 12-year-old son is waiting for her at home.

Not every rescue in Pereira has ended that way. CBS News reported that in the same city, a man was pulled from a collapsed building, lifeless, covered in a white blanket.