Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) The death toll from a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit Hualien in eastern Taiwan late Tuesday rose to 10 Thursday evening with the recovery of a body believed to be that of a female migrant worker.
The body was pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed building where a Filipino caregiver identified by the name Melody was reportedly trapped.
A rescue team from Keelung City said they received a report at 5 p.m. Thursday that Melody was trapped inside a closet on the seventh floor of the 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤) commercial and residential building.
After searching through the debris, rescuers said, they recovered the body of a woman believed to be Melody.
However, there had been no formal identification of the body as of 6 p.m., the rescue team said.
At least 10 people had died in the earthquake, 272 were injured and 7 remain unaccounted for in the aftermath, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center, citing data valid as of 6 p.m. Thursday.
All seven of the missing individuals were guests at the Beauty Inn, which was located in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building.
They are a Canadian couple, identified as Peter So (蘇煒禧) and Freda So (蕭敏渝), and a Chinese family of five. The missing family members are grandparents Ding Wenchang (丁文昌) and He Fenghua (何鳳華), ages 76 and 75, respectively; parents Yang Jie (楊捷) and Ding Shouhui (丁守慧), ages 39 and 40; and their 12-year old son Yang Haoran (楊浩然).
(By Wang Yang-yu and Christie Chen)
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