Mexico earthquake death toll increases to 344 as most collapse sites cleared

The death toll from Mexico's Sept. 19 earthquake increased to 344, with 205 of the deaths counted in the nation’s capital, Mexico city.. National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente announced the new figure via Twitter as recovery teams pulled some of the few remaining bodies out of collapsed buildings in Mexico City.

Most of the capital’s collapse sites have already been cleared of rubble.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said that preliminary accounting suggests damage from the magnitude 7.1 quake and another powerful one earlier in southern Mexico could cost upward of $2 billion (38.1 billion pesos).