Mexico City (CNN)Rescue crews in Mexico City worked into the night Wednesday to free three people trapped in the rubble of a collapsed elementary school.
The search for a girl trapped in Colegio Enrique Rebsamen drew crowds of people searching for glimmers of hope amid the chaos. They gathered behind a barrier, offering supplies and a helping hand to rescuers calling out for assistance.
As night fell, rescuers made contact with the 12-year-old girl, and expanded their search after temperature readings suggested two others might be alive inside, CNN affiliate Foro TV reported. The crowds held as rain fell over the disaster zone and rescuers painstakingly made their way through the rubble.
"This is the spirit of us, of Mexico," volunteer Ivan Ramos of Mexico City said Wednesday night. "That's our community in general; it crosses classes -- if you are rich or poor -- and any other divide."
I thought someone was kicking my chair'
The elementary school was one of 16 schools in Mexico City to suffer serious damage in Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake. The tremblor caused part of the private elementary school to fold in on itself, sandwiching and collapsing classroom onto classroom.
At least 25 people -- 21 children and four adults -- were confirmed dead at the school, Luis Felipe Puente of the Ministry of the Interior's Civil Protection unit said Wednesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, three people were still missing there and 11 people had been rescued.
Foro TV interviewed two girls who said they were taking down their English homework as the building began to shake.
"I thought someone was kicking my chair, but I turned around and no one was kicking me," one girl told the station.
"The English teacher said there was a quake. Our teacher took us to the stairs and that's when part of the building started to come down. There was dust everywhere. We couldn't see."
Volunteers and rescue workers search for survivors inside Enrique Rebsamen Tuesday night.
Volunteers and rescue workers search for survivors inside Enrique Rebsamen Tuesday night.
'We're just trying to help'
Members of the Mexican navy and marines, the Red Cross and the rescue team Los Topos joined the second day of recovery efforts on Wednesday, which drew volunteers from across the region.
Luisa, a 16-year-old volunteer, had been at the site since Tuesday. On her way to deliver sweets to rescuers she stopped to describe the grim scene.
"It's horrible. We saw a lot of children dead on the floor. Their moms crying," she said, shaking her head.
The crews removed bricks and pieces of concrete by hand and used thermal, sound and movement sensors to aid their search, according to CNN affiliate Foro TV. Throughout the day, they held up their fists and gestured for silence so they could listen for signs of life, extending a veil of calm over an otherwise chaotic scene.
Signs of life
By late afternoon, activity grew frenetic. Heavy machinery cleared away excess debris and brought in more to fortify collapsing areas of the buildings.
Ambulances and military vehicles filled the streets. Medical personnel and men with shovels streamed into the secure area.
Rescuers said they found two temperature readings of vital organs that were confirmed by a doctor with federal police.
"That person should be alive," another rescuer told Foro TV.
"It's definitely a body with life," said another. "There was some movement of the fingers."
Yet the weight of the lives lost weighed heavily on some volunteers, including Ivan Ramos. He has a son of his own who survived the earthquake.
"This is a tragedy," he said. "It's kids. It will take a long time to heal."
