Tourists evacuated after fatal Costa Rica quake

By Roger Benavides

VARA BLANCA, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Rescue helicopters ferried stranded tourists on Friday from a picturesque volcanic area in Costa Rica where a strong earthquake killed around 14 people.

Two people were buried when Thursday's 6.1-magnitude quake triggered landslides near the La Paz waterfall at Vara Blanca, on the flanks of the Poas Volcano, officials said. A dozen people were killed in nearby areas.

"There are landslides on all the roads," said Guillermo Schwartz, a tourist from Guatemala. "The helicopters are trying to get people to the airport in San Jose."

Four children were killed but the Red Cross struggled to give an exact death count as rescue workers combed jungle paths for victims and emergency officials checked lists of names with tour operators.

"It was terrifying," said Spanish tourist Nazario Llinarez, 50, who described how he was at the waterfall with his wife when part of the hillside collapsed. The couple scrambled up a slope and spent the night huddled in a bus before being evacuated by helicopter.

Constant aftershocks complicated the rescue effort, and aerial photos showed collapsed buildings and huge swathes of reddish earth where chunks of hillside had fallen away.

"There could be between 10 and 18 people missing, but we hope they are wandering about in the mountains somewhere," said Victor Falla, an official for the National Emergency Commission at a base near the area. "Until we see the bodies we can't say how many dead there are."

He said there were small tremors every couple of minutes. "It's shaking right now," he told Reuters by cell phone.