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Rescuers cling to faint hope of detecting life under rubble

The chances of pulling anyone alive from under the rubble in Christchurch have all but vanished

TheAustralian

The chances of pulling anyone alive from under the rubble in Christchurch have all but vanished, despite the continuing grim optimism of those in charge of the desperate search-and-rescue operation.

An around-the-clock effort by the exhausted 700 local and international rescuers failed to find any survivors among the city's ruins yesterday.

No one has been found alive since the last of the 70 survivors rescued so far was pulled from the collapsed Pyne Gould Guinness building on Wednesday.

Last night, the death toll stood at 113 while 228 more were said to be missing. Local police superintendent Dave Cliff and Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker continued to insist there was hope of finding more signs of life in the collapsed city structures, but New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully delivered a more stark assessment.

"The rescue focus is drawing towards a conclusion," Mr McCully said. "We're getting to the end of that period in which you can still have hope."

Authorities yesterday released two more names of people killed in Tuesday's earthquake, identifying Jeff Pelesa Sanft, 32, and Andrew Christian Ross Craig, 46, both of Christchurch. And in a further sign that the city was shifting from search and rescue to the recovery phase of this disaster, retrieval workers began removing rubble from the collapsed ChristChurch Cathedral to access the estimated 22 dead thought to lie within.

Family members of the 50 or so English-language students trapped in the rubble of the Canterbury TV building were also told yesterday to prepare for bad news.

"I told them that we are at the point where some negative conclusions need to be drawn," Mr McCully said.

Distressed relatives of the missing students, most of them Japanese, were bussed to the Papanui police station, in the northwest of the city, where they were briefed extensively by police and Japanese consular officials.

They were later driven to accommodation about 90 minutes east of Christchurch.

The search-and-rescue effort was not helped by persistent rain, which softened masonry in a number of buildings, causing walls to crumble on worksites.

One worker was struck by a collapsing structure yesterday, but not seriously hurt.

The NSW Urban Search and Rescue taskforce charged with searching for survivors at the pancaked PGG building ceased work at the site at about 7am (AEST) and was deployed elsewhere.

There were reports that some members of the search-and-rescue teams -- many of whom have barely slept since Tuesday night -- had to be dragged away from the wreckage of the CTV building at the end of their shifts.

"It's not a matter of just walking away from a worksite. They were touching bodies," said Superintendent Cliff, describing the scene at the site where as many as 120 people are thought to be buried.

"This is deeply emotional for those people working on this. They do it because they have an absolute desire to help people, to find people to rescue.

"Crews work 12 hours a stretch through hot days and cold nights, tapping on walls and pushing cameras into remote (corners) . . . and it's a very confined space. It takes a special type of person to do that."

Privately, a number of Australian workers have told The Weekend Australian that the way the CTV building collapsed -- floor upon floor, rather than outwards -- left almost no hope of finding survivors.

It is also understood that teams working around the clock at the PGG site since early Wednesday have searched all areas without detecting signs of life.

But last night local mayor Bob Parker refused to give up on a miracle. "I believe we're going to find people alive in the rubble. That thought is going to keep me going for the next two days, three days, however long it takes.

"We're going to keep thinking positive because what's the point in thinking any other way."

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/world/rescuers-cling-to-faint-hope-of-detecting-life-under-rubble/news-story/b239d417d5fbbba884f30066282383ae