Rescuers call for silence around earthquake rubble as window for survival narrows in Colombia

CALI, Colombia (AP) — With arms raised and fists clenched, rescuers in Colombia called for silence Thursday as they listened for signs of life in the rubble left by a deadly earthquake that has killed at least 265 people and left hundreds more missing.

The call for quiet was part of last-ditch efforts by search-and-rescue teams to find survivors in the aftermath of the 7.4-magnitude quake that struck the South American country Monday. Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours after a quake to be the prime window for retrieving survivors. But that time frame can be extended if those trapped have access to food and water.

“There might be two more people alive here, and I’m hopeful,” rescuer Daiana Rojas, 25, told The Associated Press. “We have been hearing sounds since 2:30 a.m., so our hope remains.”

Rojas and her family were unharmed by the quake, the most powerful to hit Colombia in this century. She has been working as a volunteer to help search for survivors in Cali, one of the most affected cities, along with Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó.

“I thought that was going to be my last moment alive,” she said, recalling the terror of the quake. “Seeing this situation in my city breaks my heart.”

The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, told reporters Wednesday that rescue teams continue to find signs of life under the rubble and were racing to save anyone within reach. “The next 20 hours are the most critical to find and rescue people alive,” he said.

The devastation has tested Colombia’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, and his government as they scramble to respond while aid groups push to help the most heavily damaged communities.

De la Espriella said Wednesday that nearly 500 people were reported missing, though civilian-run databases put that number at more than 4,200. In total, more than 25,800 families have been affected, de la Espriella said.

Rojas has witnessed two people being pulled alive from the debris, as well as the recovery of bodies.

“They are not a relative or a friend of mine, but it feels as they were,” she said of the survivors who have been found. “Whenever rescuers ask for silence, everyone stays still and tries not to move, speak or whisper. But when signs of life are found, all the teams start to applaud."

Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia. Batschke reported from Santiago, Chile.

Soldiers clear debris three days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Firefighters search through the rubble three days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Rescuers search through the rubble three days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A firefighter working on rescue efforts holds a Colombian flag amid the rubble three days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Soldiers clear debris three days after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Oklahoma put a man to death Thursday for killing his girlfriend in 2005 in the first of three executions scheduled for the same day in the U.S.

In the other executions, a Tennessee man faces death for killing a motel maid and an Alabama man will be executed after dropping all his appeals in the killing of a 5-year-old girl he paid her mother to abuse.

Eleven states carried out executions in 2025 in the U.S. If the Tennessee and Alabama deaths take place, six states will have had executions in 2026.

The last time three executions were held on the same day was Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas put inmates to death. Three executions were scheduled on the same day in 2018, but only one went forward after a Texas man was granted a reprieve and prison officials in Alabama had problems with the IV line.

Florida executed two men on the same day in July and has put 31 prisoners to death since the start of 2025.

Tennessee plans to execute Anthony Darrell Hines for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins.

Hines stabbed Jenkins to death while the 54-year-old was working as a motel maid in Kingston Springs. He was sentenced to death in 1986, won an appeal for a new sentencing hearing and was again sentenced to death in 1989.

Hines' execution date comes just three months after the attempted lethal injection of another man was called off because of a problem inserting an IV.

Hines, 66, appealed unsuccessfully to the governor and the courts, saying that the doctor who oversaw the May execution was unqualified and likely to botch his execution as well. He said his thinness and muscular atrophy after two strokes mean he could face problems with an IV as well.

During the attempted execution of Tony Carruthers, the IV team established a primary line right away but then worked for more than an hour trying to insert a backup line. Carruthers' lawyer witnessed the attempts and said the team tried to insert an IV in Carruthers’ arm, hand and foot before attempting to insert a central line.

In the end, Gov. Bill Lee called off the execution and gave Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

The state has declined to say whether the same doctor will preside over Hines’ execution. Regardless, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Hines had not proven the doctor was unqualified and suggested the problems were an isolated mishap.

Alabama is scheduled to execute Jeremy Williams by lethal injection for the 2021 rape and murder of a 5-year-old Georgia girl.

Williams, who pleaded guilty to killing Kamarie Holland, declined to appeal and asked for his death sentence to be carried out.

Williams, 42, raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for the child to perform a sex act, prosecutors said.

Williams filmed his attack on the girl and kept her body to continue to abuse, prosecutors said.

“To see on video what he did to this baby, what a grown man could do to a child, it’s shocking, it’s horrible, it’s disgusting,” Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey said. “It’s just a level of evil.”

Williams also was a suspect in the 2005 death of his infant daughter in Alaska but charges were not filed until 2022.

Corey Holland, Kamarie’s father, said his daughter was an exuberant 5-year-old who loved princesses and made people laugh.

“She loved playing dress-up, all her little Halloween costumes and her princess stuff I got her. She liked anything girly,” Corey Holland said.

It will be Alabama’s first execution of the year if it goes forward. A nitrogen gas execution was halted in June after a federal judge ruled the method unconstitutional.

The girl's mother is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sex trafficking.

Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, died by lethal injection at 10:13 a.m CDT at the state’s penitentiary in rural McAlester.

He was the third person put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 20th under Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who leaves office in January after eight years.

Convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend at their Oklahoma City home in 2003, Cuesta-Rodriguez had said he regretted killing Olimpia Fisher and didn't ask a board for clemency.

Fisher, 43, planned to leave Cuesta-Rodriguez when he shot her in one eye and then waited about eight minutes as she screamed for help before firing the fatal shot into her other eye.

“He made her suffer because she dared to live beyond his control,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond told the state’s Pardon and Parole Board on July 14.

Last month, the board voted 3-1 against recommending clemency for Cuesta-Rodriguez. His attorneys had asked the board to recommend he serve life in prison, saying he had a difficult childhood in Cuba and suffered from brain damage, post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression with psychotic episodes.

Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins contributed.

This Aug. 18, 2025, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, who was sentenced to death for the 2003 fatal shooting of his girlfriend. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

This undated photo, courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), shows death row inmate Anthony Darrell Hines at an unknown location in Tennessee. (TDOC Communications via AP)

FILE - This Oct. 9, 2014, file photo shows the gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)