Mexican authorities have extended a search for survivors of this week's devastating earthquake that killed nearly 300 people.
AFP
Foreign rescue teams have joined the search as the technical window for finding anybody left alive closed.
The 72-hour-mark beyond which hope is considered futile expired yesterday afternoon.
Three days is the limit that experts say people trapped in rubble without water, often with crushed limbs, can hold on. Usually, the next phase is sending in bulldozers to clear away the debris and recover bodies.
President Enrique Pena Nieto has however promised officials would prolong their delicate probing for survivors.
"We have to keep up the rescue effort to keep finding survivors in the rubble," he said on a visit to the state of Puebla, which was badly hit by the 7.1 earthquake that struck on Tuesday.
Since the quake, 115 survivors have been plucked from the rubble, according to the Mexican military.
The last successful rescues happened Thursday, however. On Friday, there were only bodies being recovered.
Meanwhile, several countries, including the United States, Israel, Panama and EU states have sent crews to help.
Tuesday's tragedy struck just two hours after Mexico held a national earthquake drill - as it does every year on the anniversary of 1985's devastating quake in which 10,000 people were killed.
