A 32-year-old woman has been pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Colombia after spending 36 hours trapped beneath four concrete slabs following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 188 people.
Daniela Largo was rescued in Pereira after firefighters spent about 10 hours working to reach her. Rescue teams eventually freed her through a tunnel dug beneath the concrete slabs that had pinned her down.
Largo was located after a resident heard her calling for help from under the rubble and alerted emergency workers. A small camera was then used to confirm her position and guide the rescue effort.
The operation proved difficult because four heavy slabs blocked the route to where Largo was trapped. Firefighters from Pereira, colleagues sent from Bogotá and a disaster response team from the national police worked together to reach her.
Rescuers dug two tunnels as they tried to bring her out safely. One was opened from above and used to give Largo oxygen, while the second was dug from below and allowed the teams to finally reach and free her.
Her mother told AFP that her daughter had been waiting to be found and added: "at home, her 12-year-old son is waiting for her".
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella welcomed the rescue, describing it on social media as "news which fills us with hope".
The rescue came as emergency teams continued searching for survivors in several parts of the country after the powerful earthquake struck at 07:34 local time on Monday.
The quake had its epicentre near the village of San José del Palmar in Chocó province but was felt across a wide area. Seismometers closest to the epicentre recorded shaking that lasted between 90 seconds and two minutes.
More than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the main earthquake.
Pereira, located in Colombia's coffee-growing region, has recorded 79 deaths, making it the second-worst affected city after Cali, where 95 people have died, according to figures from the Association of Colombian Capital Cities (Asocapitales).
At least 92 buildings collapsed in Pereira, with 15 people still believed to be trapped and another 37 reported missing.
The situation in Cali has also remained critical, with more than 200 people still trapped as of 16:00 local time on Tuesday. So far, 87 people have been rescued from the city.
Cali's mayor imposed a night-time curfew and said soldiers would patrol the worst-hit areas to help keep the rescue operations safe.
"We need to ensure that the rescue work can be carried out safely," he said, adding that there was still hope of finding more people alive and that everyone would do their utmost to free those trapped.
With hundreds still missing, rescue teams continue to search damaged buildings as families wait for news of loved ones caught in the disaster.