Mexico City earthquake officials admit ‘Frida Sofia’ NEVER existed after schoolgirl became symbol of hope for quake-ravaged country
The wiggling fingers of a child trapped at her collapsed school raised hope - until it became clear she didn’t exist
A 12-YEAR-old girl reported to be trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed school in the aftermath of the devastating Mexico earthquake does not exist, officials say.
The girl, dubbed "Frida Sofia", became a symbol of hope after Tuesday's magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Mexico City.
But it turns out she is a figment of someone’s imagination that had spiralled out of control, Mexican authorities said.
Earlier reports broadcast on TV screens nationwide suggested the schoolgirl had been able to communicate with rescuers after being trapped under debris for more than 32 hours at Enrique Rebsamen school.
She reportedly wiggled her fingers, told rescuers her name and said there were others trapped near her.
In an update, assistant navy secretary Angel Enrique Sarmiento said yesterday "Frida Sofia" is not real saying there was evidence of a person who may still be alive, but it was probably a school worker.
He said: "We want to emphasise that we have no knowledge about the report that emerged with the name of a girl.
"We never had any knowledge about that report, and we do not believe we are sure it was not a reality."
He said 19 children and six adults died in the school collapse, and that 11 children were rescued.
The revelation has caused outrage on social media with many viewers expressing anger at being duped into following a fake news story saying it distracted attention from real rescue efforts.
Televisa, Mexico’s largest media company, which covered the frantic search for "Frida Sofia", said it based the missing schoolgirl report based on information from a navy official.
In , it said: “During the entire Televisa broadcast from the Enrique Rebsamen school the information we’ve been sharing has been given to us or corroborated by the on-duty commander of the marine secretary.”
“When we reported there was someone alive under the rubble, when we reported that it was a girl, when we reported that there were perhaps three, when we reported they were about to rescue her, in short, each detail at each stage of the broadcast was obtained by the Navy or corroborated by this institution
News anchor Carlos Loret de Mola tweeted: “The federal Government always told us there was a girl and that they were about to rescue her life. Now change the version. Outrageous."
The official death toll rose to 273 in Mexico City and several nearby states, with 137 in the capital.
Survivors are still being pulled from rubble as rescue operations stretch into a fourth day today, spurring hope among desperate relatives gathered at the sites of buildings collapsed by the quake.
Mexico's federal police said several people were lifted out of the debris of two buildings yesterday.
Rescuers removed or broke through slabs until they found cracks that allowed workers to wiggle through to reach the victims, then lift them to safety.
The Mexican capital is home to over 20million people and is one of the world's biggest cities.
The quake's epicentre was around 76 miles southeast of Mexico City.
The US Geological Survey has put the quake at a 7.1 magnitude while Mexico's Seismological Institute said it measured it as a 6.8.
The institute says the epicentre was seven kilometres west of Chiautla de Tapia, in the neighbouring state of Puebla.
The country was rocked by a mammoth 8.1 quake just 11 days ago killing at least 90 people dead.
The country sits atop several large tectonic plates, making it prone to quakes.
A HISTORY OF MEXICO'S DEADLY QUAKES
September 7, 2017: Measured at a strength of 8.2, this quake is more powerful but less deadly than the one 32 years ago that killed thousands. Around 100 people are killed and more than 200 hurt, with the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas most affected. The quake is felt as far north as Mexico City - about 500 miles from the epicentre.
January 21, 2003: A 7.6-magnitude quake shakes the western Pacific coast, killing 29 people and injuring more than 300.
September 30, 1999: At least 22 people are killed in a 7.5-magnitude quake that strikes southern and central areas.
June 15, 1999: A 7-magnitude quake kills at least 25 people in the central Puebla region.
October 9, 1995: Measured at 8, this earthquake hits the western states of Colima and Jalisco, leaving at least 48 dead. In the town of Manzanillo alone, around 30 people are killed when a seven-storey hotel collapses.
September 19, 1985: One of the most powerful ever in the country, this 8.1-strong quake kills at least 10,000 people in Mexico City, though some estimates put the toll as high as 30,000. The epicentre is 350 kilometres from the capital, large sections of which are razed.
