Rescuers were trying to save an adult believed to be still trapped in a Mexico City school that collapsed in a devastating earthquake on Tuesday.

Throughout the day, the country was gripped by efforts to save a 12-year-old girl. However, late on Thursday, officials said that all the pupils had been accounted for, either alive or dead and that the search was now focused on an adult survivor.

Angel Enrique Sarmiento, undersecretary for the Navy, said 19 children and 6 adults had died in the school collapse. He said 11 children were rescued from the building. Mexico's Navy is leading search and rescue efforts at the site.

Residents awoke yesterday to survey the full extent of the destruction from the massive 7.1 quake that struck on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 273 people, nearly half of them in the capital.

Rescue efforts have been ceaseless and somewhat chaotic as ordinary Mexicans spring to help, with lists of survivors and the dead difficult to come by.