Officials: Girl trapped alive in quake not real

MEXICO CITY - Hour after hour, Mexicans were transfixed by dramatic efforts to reach a young girl thought buried in the rubble of a school destroyed by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. She reportedly wiggled her fingers, told rescuers her name and said there were others trapped near her. Rescuers called for tubes, pipes and other tools to reach her.

News media, officials and volunteers all repeated the story of "Frida Sofia" with an urgency that drew attention away from other rescue efforts.

But she never existed, Mexican Navy officials now say.