Day of Dead parade honors Mexican quake victims, rescuers

MEXICO CITY - A raised fist made of helmets, pick axes and broken rubble rolled ahead of hundreds of walking skeletons, costumed dancers and flowery floats Saturday in Mexico City's Day of the Dead parade, which this year honored the 228 capital residents killed by a Sept 19 earthquake.

"Thank you, rescuers!" belted out Guadalupe Perez, 56, as she passed the sculpture, which was followed by contingents of men, women and dogs who had searched for survivors amid the rubble of collapsed buildings. The parade also honored them.

Mexico City's central Zocalo plaza was filled by the papier mache dead, skeletal Catrina figures and candle-covered shrines where people were invited to place photographs of those killed in two recent earthquakes, which together left more than 400 dead across the country.