Legendary 'moles' again on Mexico City home turf

Finding survivors is the motivation to do dangerous work, doctor says

MEXICO CITY - After earning fame burrowing into piles of rubble in disasters the world over, including the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Mexico's "mole" rescue workers are on tragically familiar ground, pulling people from ruins in their home city.

The moles, Topos in Spanish, formed as a volunteer search and rescue group in the aftermath of the devastating quake that struck Mexico City in 1985, saving lives in the working class neighborhood of Tlatelolco where there had been a poor government response.