Number of earthquake deaths Taiwan rises to 17

After the devastating earthquake in the Taiwan city of Hualien, the death toll has risen to seventeen.

Rescue teams reported earlier that they also removed the bodies of a Canadian couple from the rubble of the Yunmen Cuiti building. The Canadians and the family from China were in a hotel that was housed in the heavily damaged complex. The skyscraper had fallen dangerously skewed after the earthquake on Wednesday night because the lowest floors had collapsed.

The quake with a strength of 6. 0 caused great damage to the east coast. More than 270 people were injured. More than two hundred aftershocks made the rescue work more difficult in the past few days.