AKIPRESS.COM - In a day marked by the gloom of a growing death toll, at least one story of hope emerged Monday as search teams combed rubble for survivors days after a powerful earthquake shook Ecuador's Pacific coast.

Rescuers pulled a person from the ruins of a hotel in the city of Portoviejo on Monday afternoon, security officials said.

The man, who was about 35 years old, had called his mother with his cell phone to tell her he was still alive under the rubble, CNN reported.

Firefighters who traveled to Ecuador from Bogota, Colombia, helped rescue him, Teleamazonas said.

The 7.8-magnitude quake, which struck Saturday night, has killed at least 413 people, officials said Monday. More than 2,500 more were injured.

The hardest-hit area of the South American nation was the coastal Manabi Province, where about 200 people died, said Ricardo Peñaherrera of Ecuador's national emergency management office.