Death toll rises to 507 from Ecuador earthquake

Ecuadorean authorities say the death toll from the weekend earthquake has risen to 507.

The Attorney General's Office says 499 of the dead have been identified so far and returned to loved ones, and added that 11 foreigners were among those killed.

Deputy Interior Minister Diego Fuentes also says that 2,000 people had been reported as missing to a government registry created to track casualties. But it's not clear if all of those people remain unaccounted for.

Earlier Tuesday, Ecuador's Defense Ministry said 231 people were missing.

The devastation caused by Ecuador's earthquake is being felt in the newsroom of one of the South American country's oldest newspapers.

For the first time in its 82-year history, El Diario wasn't able to publish Sunday after electricity and Internet servers were knocked out of service by heavy damage in its newsroom in Portoviejo.

The paper managed to resume circulation Monday, aided by power generators and the dedication of its staff spread across Manabi province, which is the hardest hit by the earthquake. Some employees traveled for hours to personally deliver photos of the devastation on pen drives.

Even so, El Diario was able to publish only half its normal 40 pages.

Editor Jaime Ugalde says the paper's news staff is still working with computers with screens cracked during the quake.

Ugalde adds: "Our goal is still to reach our public, in all corners of Manabi."