Mexico quake death toll 343 as most collapse sites cleared

MEXICO CITY – The death toll from Mexico's Sept. 19 earthquake has risen to 343, with 204 of the deaths coming in the nation's capital.

National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente announced the new toll Thursday, as recovery teams pulled some of the few remaining bodies out of collapsed buildings in Mexico City.

Most of the capital's collapse sites have already been cleared of rubble.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday that preliminary accounting suggests damage from the magnitude 7.1 quake and an even more powerful one earlier in the month could cost upward of $2 billion (38.1 billion pesos).