After a day in which Mexico was captivated by frantic rescue operations to reach a girl believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed elementary school, officials said Thursday that they believed there was no girl there.

Angel Enrique Sarmiento, undersecretary general of the Mexican Navy, said that all the children from the school, which fell during a devastating earthquake on Tuesday, had been accounted for.

He said that 11 children from the Enrique Rébsamen school in southern Mexico City had been rescued and that 19 had died, but no students were believed to still be trapped inside. The bodies of six adults had also been recovered.

Mr. Sarmiento said there may still be someone, believed to be an adult, alive inside.

More than 200 people were killed in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, about half of them in the capital.

Misinformation swirled as the chaotic recovery efforts unfolded on Thursday. At one point, officials said there were signs that a girl was alive and was speaking to rescue workers who were trying to reach her.

Local television stations broadcast the rescue efforts live. The girl, who quickly became a symbol of hope, was being called Frida Sofia by those watching the rescue, anxiously waiting for positive news. It was not clear where the name came from.

The parents of children at the school had descended on the site, some climbing trees and playground equipment to get a better view of the operation, in hopes that their children would be pulled alive from the rubble.

But even as rescuers and held out hope that they would find survivors, the remains of those killed in the collapse were still being recovered. The body of a 58-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble around 5:30 Thursday morning. Her name has not been released, but government officials said she had worked at the school.

Officials have opted not to use heavy equipment to remove debris as long as there was still hope of finding survivors, and as an added precaution, rescuers were using wooden scaffolding to prevent rubble from falling onto the site of the collapse.