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Rare stories of survival emerge after killer Ecuador earthquake

The 7.8-magnitude quake Saturday night killed at least 272 people and injured more than 2,500
Desperate search for missing after deadly Ecuador earthquake 02:54

Rescue teams pulled a woman from rubble Sunday after she was trapped under a fallen roof, and people in Manta, Ecuador cheered as a small child and several others were saved from a five-story building that collapsed.

But these are the few stories of triumph in what feels like a sea of devastation, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud.

Hundreds killed by massive earthquake in Ecuador 02:34

Officials say at least 350 have died and thousands more are injured, and Ecuador's vice president admits a large number of people are still unaccounted for, possibly buried under debris.

"I saved my family at least," said a woman in Pedernales. "But my little nephew is still inside."

Surveillance video appears to show the moment the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday night. A woman tries to brace herself between two cars as the ground rocks violently beneath her.

Californians Alice Gandelman and her husband are on vacation in San Clemente. The Bay Area couple said they're used to earthquakes, but nothing like this.

"The shaking continued and it got more and more intense and there was a big boom. It was about 49 seconds long, which is a very long time to have the earth moving under your feet," Alice Gandelman said.

There's significant damage more than 100 miles south of the epicenter in Portoviejo, where a hospital collapsed. Nearby, 180 prisoners from a jail escaped.

And in Guayaquil, first responders desperately tried, but couldn't save a man whose car was crushed after an overpass collapsed.

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