Dozens of rescuers and onlookers burst into applause and cheers in Pereira in western Colombia on Tuesday night as a young child was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building following the country's 7.5-magnitude earthquake.
Footage from the scene showed rescuers carefully clearing debris as they worked to reach the trapped child. Onlookers who had gathered at the site held up their phones with flashlights on, casting additional light onto the rescue effort.
When the child was finally brought out, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers, a moment of relief and joy amid the wreckage.
The dramatic rescue came after the strong quake struck the country on Monday, causing widespread damage across multiple regions. Pereira, a city in Colombia's coffee-growing region, was among the cities ravaged by the earthquake.
The death toll from the earthquake in western Colombia has risen to 188, with 1,677 others injured, the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, or Asocapitales, said Tuesday.
Of the total, the latest tally included 95 deaths and 997 injuries reported in the city of Cali, while Pereira reported 79 deaths and 278 injuries.
Rescue operations are continuing in affected areas as the government had declared a state of national disaster to respond to the impact of the earthquake.
Rescuers pull child from rubble in Pereira as cheers erupt
The newly upgraded Huanggang Port connecting the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland recorded more than 3.44 million inbound and outbound passenger trips in its first month of operation, averaging 114,000 per day -- a 120 percent year-on-year increase, as Shenzhen prepares for the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Week.
With the event approaching, all 25 APEC-dedicated channels across Shenzhen's ports in south China have been opened to facilitate the entry of participants and media from APEC member economies.
The upgraded Huanggang Port is operating smoothly, with its single-day passenger flow recently hitting the highest level since 2019.
At Huanggang Port, travelers now only need to queue once and present their documents once to complete immigration procedures for both sides.
"Usually it takes about one minute to go through customs on both sides. My fastest time was 36 seconds," said a passenger from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Huanggang Port is the only 24-hour land passenger port between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Since November, Shenzhen's ports have opened a total of 25 APEC-dedicated inspection channels. Among them, the Huanggang Border Inspection Station has processed 14,000 trips of foreign nationals from APEC economies, a month-on-month increase of 102 percent. "Facing the continuous high passenger flow, the Huanggang Border Inspection Station has strengthened early warning and analysis, continuously enhanced communication and coordination with the Hong Kong side, cross-border operating units, and foreign affairs departments, and reinforced our multilingual service team to ensure efficient and smooth customs clearance," said Yang Huan, staff member at the Huanggang Border Inspection Station.
As China's largest single port building and the world's largest land port complex, the facility covers a total floor area of 689,700 square meters, featuring four underground and five above-ground floors.
The original Huanggang Port, which opened in 1989, was China's first large-scale land port with 24-hour clearance. Reconstruction on the original site began in 2019 to meet the surging demand for cross-border passage.
Upgraded Huanggang Port handles over 3.44 million passenger trips in first month
