Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) The bodies of two Canadians were pulled Friday from the rubble of a 12-story building, which partly collapsed in the Hualien earthquake earlier in the week, bringing the death toll to 12, rescue workers confirmed.

The couple, identified as Peter So (蘇煒禧) and Freda So (蕭敏渝), were staying at the Beauty Inn in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building, one of the structures that tipped over in the magnitude 6.0 earthquake late Tuesday.

When rescue workers reached the Canadian couple at about 3:29 p.m. Friday, the two bodies were found next to each other but the woman's was crushed under a pillar, one of the team members said.

The bodies were taken to a nearby hospital mortuary and confirmed to be those of the Canadian couple, National Fire Agency (NFA) Director General Chen Wen-lung (陳文龍) told reporters.

Five people remain missing in the aftermath of the quake and are believed to be inside the Beauty Inn, which occupied the first three floors of the 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti building.

As of 4 p.m., the number of deaths in the Hualien earthquake had risen to 12, while the people injured have reached 277.

(By Chen Chao-fu, Liao Pei-chi and Ko Lin)
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