After 36 hours trapped in darkness, a Los Angeles teenager was pulled from the ruins of a collapsed 12-story apartment building Tuesday - bruised and bleeding but alive.
"I'm very tired," said 17-year-old Samantha Miksche, whose American mother was among dozens of people still missing as the search for survivors entered its third day.Rescue workers pulled two bodies from the ruins Tuesday. The Interior Ministry has confirmed 12 deaths, but news media put the toll at 18.
An Egyptian woman, identified by hospital officials as Noha Fawzi, also was found in the debris Tuesday morning. The extent of her injuries was not known.
At least 23 survivors have been rescued since the collapse Sunday night. Until Miksche and Fawzi were found Tuesday morning, 21 hours had gone by without anyone being found alive, police said.
As many as 150 people, most of them Egyptians, were believed to have been in the apartments and offices of the building when it suddenly caved it.
Rescue workers, their faces covered with kerchiefs, dug with bulldozers, shovels and their bare hands throughout the night. A cool breeze carried the stench of decomposing bodies from the site.
At daybreak, government soldiers cordoned off the area. Rescue workers complained that thousands of people were milling about the five-story-high pile of debris, hampering their work. Nine people were arrested Monday for scavenging.
Workers pulled out the California teen soon after dawn.
Covered with a blanket, Miksche was carried out on a stretcher. She had suffered only scratches and bruises.
"She is perfectly fine," said friend Noha Wagih, who visited Miksche at the hospital. Miksche spoke briefly to the Associated Press from the hospital, saying she was exhausted.
The teenager and her mother had been looking at an apartment in the building that Miksche was considering renting, Wagih said. The cave-in caught Miksche on the second floor.
During her hours beneath the ruins, she could hear other survivors crying for help, her friend said. Sniffing dogs first detected her, alerting workers who finally heard her screams.
There was no sign of her mother, identified by the U.S. Embassy only as a naturalized American of Egyptian origin.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation.